International Paper and other Cardboard Box Giants Accused of Price-Fixing in Federal Antitrust Suit
A group of major packaging manufacturers, including International Paper and Packaging Corporation of America, has been hit with a federal antitrust lawsuit alleging a coordinated scheme to inflate prices for containerboard materials used in products like cardboard boxes and retail displays.
According to Reuters, the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, claims the defendants orchestrated a series of parallel price increases that began in late 2020 and collectively raised costs by approximately 30%. The suit was brought by Artuso Pastry Foods Corp, a Mt. Vernon, New York-based business, which is seeking to represent a nationwide class of buyers that may include hundreds of thousands of businesses.
The complaint targets several major industry players, including Georgia-Pacific, Greif, Smurfit Westrock, and Graphic Packaging, in addition to International Paper and Packaging Corporation of America. Per Reuters, the lawsuit accuses these companies of implementing “numerous unprecedented and unjustified price increases,” often in near-perfect synchrony, which it says constitutes a violation of U.S. antitrust law.
Cardboard Box Giants Accused of Price-Fixing in Federal Antitrust Suit