<B>North American Newsprint Production, Shipments Improve</B>

North American newsprint production continues its resurgence, with figures for June, as well as the first six months increasing. According to the Pulp and Paper Products Council North American newsprint production increased by 1.8 percent for June to 1.284 million metric tons. This pushed the six-month figure to 7.928 million tons, a 1.4 percent improvement from figures the same time last year.

The improvement for the month was shared by both U.S. and Canadian mills. U.S. mills saw production climb 1.6 percent for the month to 538,000 metric tons. Canadian newsprint mills posted an even sharper 2 percent increase for the month, with total newsprint production jumping 745,000 metric tons.

For the first six months, production totals were slightly different. The total for U.S. mills is up 3.9 percent to 3.323 million metric tons; Canadian newsprint production dipped 0.4 percent to 4.606 million metric tons.

Reflecting the improvement, the operating rate at North American newsprint mills jumped for both the month and first six months. The average operating rate for June stands at 96 percent of capacity, compared to last June's figure of 92 percent of capacity. For the first six months the operating rate stands at 97 percent of capacity, compared to last year's operating rate of 94 percent.

The driver for newsprint production has been the jump in shipments of finished product. Total shipments for June stand at 1.315 million metric tons, a 0.4 percent increase from last June. The six-month shipment total came in at around 8 million metric tons, a 3.6 percent improvement from figures the same time last year.

U.S. shipments posted an even sharper increase for both the month and year to date. For June shipments jumped 2.3 percent; for the first six months shipments climbed 5.4 percent to 3.329 million metric tons.

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August 2000
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