The shares of paper companies — JK Paper, West Coast Paper, Andhra Paper, Seshasayee Paper, Century Textiles & Industries, and Tamil Nadu Newsprint — extended gains on Wednesday after the companies hiked their product prices.

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JK Paper has announced a price increase in packaging board products — used in delivering orders by ecommerce companies — in West Zone for production from its CPM Unit in Gujarat. The increase is in the range of Rs 3,200-5,000 a metric tonne (mt) across products, said SMIFS Institutional Equities. The new prices came into effect from August 22.

Century Textiles announced Rs 1,500/mt price increase in the cost of copier paper and Rs 2,000-3,000/mt hike in non-copier segment with effect from September 1. Tamil Nadu Newsprints and Paper announced Rs 5,000/mt hike in copier paper segment, effective from August 22.

Paper companies have taken multiple price hikes in the last few months amid a rise in the input costs, mainly in energy, chemicals and packaging expenses owing to geopolitical crisis and logistical issues.

The shares of JK paper closed 3.51 percent higher at Rs 428.65 per share on BSE while West Coast closed 6.25 percent higher at Rs 625. Andhra Paper closed at Rs 477.3, up 3 percent.

Movement in paper stocks on Wednesday

The paper industry has often been characterised as the 'sunset industry' amidst growing digitalisation but in the recent past, various catalysts have supported the sector, and they are expected to aid the industry's growth going forward as well.

The pandemic which led to a massive shift to online shopping that boosted demand for packing board boxes, Russia-Ukraine war, and the recent single-use plastic ban have acted as tailwinds for the sector.

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