<B>Paper Stock Exports Up First Six Months</B>

Despite the recent downward trend in paper stock exports, over the first six months of the year exports posted strong increases. Led by the continued improvement in shipments to Canada, which increased its intake of recovered fiber by 55 percent, total paper stock exports increased by 24.4 percent from Jan.-June.

For June, the most recently reported month, total paper stock exports stand at 958,000 tons, with exports to Canada at 272,126 tons. The export total, on an annual rate, year to date, stands at 9.914 million tons.