AF&PA publishes US paper shipment statistics for February

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The Washington D.C.-headquartered American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) has released the shipment statistics for the month of February this year. The monthly figures suggest marginal increase in U.S printing-writer paper shipments. Also, shipments of uncoated free sheets and coated free sheets increased during the month.

The total shipment of printing-writing paper declined marginally by 1% in February 2016 when matched with the same month a year before. The inventory levels of printing-writing paper remained essentially flat when compared with the previous month.

The February ‘16 coated free sheet (CFS) paper shipments increased 2% when compared with the previous year. Uncoated free sheets (UFS) shipment rose modestly by nearly 3% during the month relative to shipments in February 2015. This is the fourth consecutive month that UFS shipments have registered month-on-month increase. Coated mechanical (CM) shipments during February ‘15 held steady when matched with the same month in 2015. Uncoated mechanical (UM) shipments during February this year have dropped sharply by 8% when matched with Feb ‘15.

The total kraft paper shipments during February this year have increased modestly by nearly 7% over same month the previous year to 139.8 thousand short tons. Out of this, bleached kraft paper shipments constituted 8.70 thousand short tons whereas the balance 131.1 thousand short tons accounted for unbleached kraft paper shipments. The total month-end inventories increased to 70.8 thousand short tons.

The AF&PA statistics indicate that the UFS imports were down sharply by 22% when compared with a year before. Imports of CFS papers dropped 14% during the month. UM paper imports registered nineteenth consecutive month of decline, declining by 17% year-on-year. Imports of CM have declined by 7% over the previous year.