Packaging board output rises in US

AF&PA reports strong containerboard and boxboard figures for July 2018.


The Washington-based American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has announced that containerboard production was up 4.2 percent in July 2018 compared with July 2017. Year to date, the AF&PA says, containerboard output is up by 1.5 percent.

Momentum also is growing during the summer months, with AF&PA saying the July 2018 containerboard output figure is up by 3.8 percent compared with the previous month.

The containerboard mill operating rate was 99.4 percent this July, 2.5 percentage points higher than in July 2017. Production for export in July 2018 was at its highest level so far this year, and it was 2 percent higher than July 2017.

The AF&PA also has reported that total boxboard output increased 1.9 percent in July 2018 when compared with July 2017, and output increased 4.1 percent in July 2018 compared with the previous month.

The production of recycled-content boxboard increased this July compared with the previous month and to July 2017.