AF&PA publishes US paper report for May 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 May this year.

According to the statistics, the containerboard production went higher by nearly 1% in May ’15 when compared with the production during the same month a year before. Also, the average daily production of containerboard has dropped by 2.0% over the previous month. The operating rate for containerboard dropped from 98.6% in April to 97.2% in May.

The total kraft paper shipments during May have dropped by nearly 1% over same month the previous month to 140.7 thousand short tons. Out of this, bleached kraft paper shipments constituted 8.40 thousand short tons whereas the balance 132.3 thousand short tons accounted for unbleached kraft paper shipments. The combined shipment for the initial five-month period of the year was down by 1.4% when compared with the corresponding five-month period in 2014.

AF&PA notes that bleached paper kraft shipments decreased by nearly 18.4% over the previous month while unbleached paper craft shipments remained almost flat in May ‘15. The month-end inventories increased to 81.5 thousand short tons in May ‘15.

The total shipment of printing-writing paper declined 9% in May this year. The May ‘15 coated free sheet (CFS) paper shipments dropped 10% when compared with the previous year. Uncoated free sheets (UFS) shipment dropped 5% during the month. Coated mechanical (CM) shipments during May ‘15 plunged lower by almost 14% when matched with the same month in 2014. Uncoated mechanical (CM) shipments during May ‘15 have reduced by 19% when matched with May 2014.

Meantime, the total boxboard production decreased 0.9% from those during May ’14. However, the production increased by 4.7% over April this year. The production of Recycled Boxboard dropped when compared with May 2014, but increased when compared with April this year.