Paper Stock Consumption Slips

The consumption of recovered fiber at domestic mills eased back slightly between last year and this year. According to the American Forest and Paper Association, consumption of paper stock by domestic mills stands at 6.027 million tons for the first two months of the year. This is down 1.7 percent from 1999's two-month total.

Although consumption dipped, the production of paper and paperboard both increased for the first two months of the year. According to the AFPA, paper production for Jan.-Feb. increased by 2.6 percent to 7.5 million tons, while paperboard production increased by 4.5 percent to slightly more than 16 million tons.

Continuing the trend by many paper and paperboard mills to reduce inventories, the most recent figures from the AFPA show the inventory of recovered fiber at domestic mills stands at 1.028 million tons for February, a 9.2 percent drop from the same time last year. Although the figure is down from 1999, February's figure is up more than 5 percent from January's inventory level.