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Pallet C e nt ral • No vem be r-D e cem be r 2 0 24 21 3. What Are Your Expecta ons For Global Trade Trends In 2025, And How Might These Trends Impact The Industry? If the political climate and wars settle, I expect that demand will increase around the 2nd quar ter of 2025. T his w ill be a recover y stage from 2023 and 202 4. We w ill begin seeing the international trade increase, and this demand w ill have a direct impact on the wooden pallet and packaging industries. Production w ill have to increase in the US as a result. - Mohammed Alakoli, PALLETCO 2025 w ill be a ver y impor tant year for our economy. W hen we talk about next year, we need to look at the global political situation, global economic trends, our national economy, and our industr y. A ll of these factors are ver y impor tant in play ing an impor tant role in shaping up the supply chain and trade. In the last t wo years, companies in our industr y were founded w ith huge amounts of inventories. I believe that mergers of the pallet companies helped w ith that as well. Our customers are buy ing just enough to make shipments of their product and controlling their costs. Because of huge amounts of inventories, we had to sell pallets at ultra-low cost. - Atlanta Pallets and Services Global trade trends w ill have to pick up in my opinion. As much as we would like for ever y thing to be A merican-made, we do not have the labor force or manpower to produce and compete on many items. We are going to have to pick and choose what is v ital for us to sur v ive. We worr y about Chinese labor being so cheap, which they are on items that cannot be automated, when in many cases, they are beyond us in automation on other items. - Jim Kesting, Madison County Wood Products I think there w ill be an up-tick in trade overall, but at a small percent. T he feds are pushing inf lation down to the 2% mark, and if the markets go w ild again, they w ill tighten their reigns on the market to cool it down. - Curtis Berry, Berry Pallets A lot of that depends on the election, and that is too close to call. We could continue to have our "sof t landing." - PALtech Enterprise Global trade stays f lat, but Mex ico-US trade w ill bring more demand for pallets. - George Dunn & Olympic Industries T he US Economy w ill continue pick ing up pace, impor ts from low cost countries like China or Vietnam w ill likely g row as people have more disposable income. Re-shoring of manufacturing to Mex ico w ill create oppor tunities for palletizing unit loads there, increasing the overall demand for pallets in new, shor ter supply chains. - Mia Allen, Rose Pallet Coming of f an election year, combined w ith the Fed cutting interest rates for the f irst time since 2020, 2025 brings both oppor tunit y and uncer taint y. I expect that 2025 w ill be a year of g row th for global trade, w ith the US likely performing par ticularly well. A lthough f ive years have passed since the onset of the COV ID pandemic, many trends that emerged during isolation—such as the continued expansion of e-commerce—are still shaping the global economy. Sustainabilit y and resilience remain at the forefront of industr y discussions. W hile increased consumption t y pically benef its businesses, companies focused on sustainabilit y may extend the life of their pallets to reduce waste and costs, potentially impacting order volumes. T his trend underscores the critical impor tance of maintaining high-qualit y pallets that can w ithstand longer lifecycles and heav y use. As companies aim to make fewer purchases, the demand for consistently reliable, durable pallets from tr usted suppliers w ill be stronger than ever. - Clay Wells, Universal Logic T he USMCA rev iew in 2026 creates uncer taint y for Mex ico, the US, and Canada, and the outcome of the 202 4 US elections w ill likely inf luence these trade negotiations. W hether the administration is Democratic or Republican, companies should expect potential changes to tarif fs and reg ulations, mak ing 2025 a key year to prepare. In Mex ico, the rev ised NOM-SEM A R NAT-14 4 —pending publication—will introduce stricter g uidelines, helping to prevent bad practices in wood packaging. Once published and enforced, this stronger standard w ill promote better compliance and boost Mex ico's international trade, facilitating smoother cross-border exchanges w ithin Nor th A merica. - Samuel Podlipsky, Tarimera El Rayo

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