AF&PA publishes US paper reports for January

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The Washington D.C.-headquartered American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) has released the production statistics for the month of January this year.

According to the statistics, the containerboard production was 1% higher in Jan ’15 when compared with the production during the previous month. Also, the total containerboard production has increased by 3.9% when compared with Jan ’14. The average daily production of containerboard was 1% higher in January over the previous month. The operating rate for containerboard increased marginally from 94.7% in Dec ’14 to 96.2% in Jan ‘15.

The total kraft paper shipments during January declined by 3.1% over the previous month to 124.40 thousand tonnes. Out of this, bleached kraft paper shipments constituted 9.40 thousand tonnes whereas the balance 115 thousand tons accounted for unbleached kraft paper shipments.

AF&PA notes that bleached paper kraft shipments dropped considerably by nearly 3.09% over the previous month while unbleached paper craft shipments declined by 3.12% in January ‘15. The total shipments during the month were 6.3% lower than January last year. The month-end inventories increased to 83.3 thousand short tons in Jan ‘15.

On the other hand, the total boxboard production decreased 0.2% from those during Jan ’14. However, the production increased by 3.9% over Dec ’14. The production of Recycled Boxboard increased when compared to Dec ‘14 and Jan ‘14.