AF&PA releases US Paper Production and Shipment Statistics for July

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The Washington D.C.-headquartered American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) has released the production and shipment statistics for the month of July this year. The monthly figures suggest marginal decline in U.S shipment of kraft papers during the month. Meantime, the total containerboard and boxboard production too declined significantly during the month.

The total kraft paper shipments during July this year have decreased modestly by nearly 10.6% over same month the previous year to 133.0 thousand short tons. Out of this, bleached kraft paper shipments constituted 6.7 thousand short tons whereas the balance 126.3 thousand short tons accounted for unbleached kraft paper shipments. The total month-end inventories surged higher to 80.2 thousand short tons in July ’16. The cumulative shipments during the initial seven-month period of the year were down by 3.7% when matched with 2015.

It must be noted that the total kraft paper shipments during June had totaled 137.8 thousand short tons. Out of this, bleached kraft paper shipments constituted 7.7 thousand short tons whereas the balance 130.1 thousand short tons accounted for unbleached kraft paper shipments.

The AF&PA statistics indicate that the US boxboard production dropped by 2.5% in July 2016, when matched with the previous year. However, when compared with the previous month, the July boxboard production climbed higher by 2.24%. The production of unbleached kraft boxboard and recycled boxboard production decreased over the previous year. However, the production was up when matched with June 2016. The solid bleached boxboard and liner production dropped when compared with July 2015.

The US boxboard production had dropped by 2.0% in June 2016, when matched with the previous year. The production of unbleached kraft boxboard and recycled boxboard production had decreased over the previous year. The solid bleached boxboard and liner production too had dropped when compared with June 2015.

According to statistics, the US containerboard production in July this year was 0.7% lower when compared with the same month a year before. The month-on-month average daily production has increased slightly by 0.3% during the month. The containerboard operating rate for July dropped to 93.9% and the year-to-date operating rate of 94.4% was 1.7 percentage points lower compared to the same period in 2015.

The US containerboard production in June had stood lower by 1.2% when compared with the previous year. The containerboard operating rate for the month had remained flat at 95.6%.

The AF&PA in its recently released Sustainability Report had indicated that it has achieved two 2020 sustainability goals. Greenhouse gas emission reduction by AF&PA facilities attained 16%, surpassing the goal of 15%. The safety incidence rate witnessed an improvement of 40.8%, significantly higher when compared with the 25% improvement goal. Also, the report had stated that it is very much on track to surpass the 70% paper recovery goal set for 2020. The industry had consumed over 30 million tons of recovered paper to make paper and paperboard products during the entire year 2015.

About AF&PA

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) is the national trade association of the forest products industry, representing manufacturers of approximately 80% of the U.S. pulp and paper industry and 50% of the wood building material capacity. AF&PA was formed on January 1, 1993 by the merger of the National Forest Product Association and the American Paper Institute.

AF&PA's primary work is public policy advocacy at the international, national, state and local levels. The Association also serves as the forest products industry's primary statistical clearinghouse for manufacturing, production and capacity data.