AF&PA publishes US paper reports for March 2015

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

According to the statistics, the containerboard production went higher by 1.1% in Mar ’15 when compared with the production during the same month a year before. Also, the average daily production of containerboard has dropped slightly by 0.8% over the previous month. The operating rate for containerboard decreased from 94.7% in February to 95.5% in March.

The total kraft paper shipments during March have increased by 1.9% over the previous month to 130.40 thousand short tons. Out of this, bleached kraft paper shipments constituted 8.90 thousand short tons whereas the balance 121.5 thousand short tons accounted for unbleached kraft paper shipments. The combined shipment for the initial three-month period of the year was down by 3.8% when compared with the corresponding three-month period in 2014.

AF&PA notes that bleached paper kraft shipments increased by nearly 7.23% over the previous month while unbleached paper craft shipments surged higher by 11.79% in March ‘15. The total shipments during the initial three months of the year were 3.8% lower than the corresponding period in 2014. The month-end inventories increased to 85.8 thousand short tons in Mar ‘15.

The total shipment of printing-writing paper declined 4% in March this year. The Mar ‘15 coated free sheet (CFS) paper shipments dropped 3% when compared with the previous year. Uncoated free sheets (UFS) shipment dropped 1% during the month. Coated mechanical (CM) shipments during Mar ‘15 plunged lower by almost 14% when matched with the same month in 2014. Uncoated mechanical (CM) shipments during Mar ‘15 have reduced by 9% when matched with March 2014.

Meantime, the total boxboard production decreased 2.6% from those during Mar ’14. However, the production increased by 8.3% over February this year. The production of Recycled Boxboard dropped when compared with March 2014, but increased when compared with February this year.