Recycled boxboard production increased in August '14: AF&PA

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

According to the statistics, the containerboard production dropped slightly by 1.2% in August this year when compared with the production during same month the previous year. However, the total containerboard production remained flat when compared with the previous month.

The production of recycled boxboard increased when compared with August last year and also when compared with the production during July ’14.

On the other hand, the total kraft paper shipments during August ’14 dropped 1.2% over the year in August to 120.10 thousand tonnes. Out of this, bleached kraft paper shipments constituted 8.7 thousand tonnes whereas the balance 111.4 thousand tons accounted for unbleached kraft paper shipments. AF&PA notes that bleached paper kraft shipments dropped 9.38% over the previous month while unbleached paper craft shipments declined marginally by 1.24% in August ‘14. The cumulative kraft paper shipments during the initial eight-month period in 2014 were 3.5% lower than the corresponding period last year.

The total shipment of printing-writing paper declined 7% in August this year. The August ’14 coated free sheet (CFS) paper shipments too decreased 7%. Uncoated free sheets (UFS) shipment dropped 11% during the month. On the other hand, the shipment of uncoated mechanical (UM) paper increased for the seventh straight month, rising by 7% over the previous year. Meanwhile, coated mechanical (CM) paper shipments also increased marginally during the month.