Corrugated Box Shipments Continue Downward Spiral

The slumping economy is creating significant problems for the corrugated box industry. As the economy has continued to cool, demand for finished boxes have slowed.

Recent figures from the Fibre Box Association show shipments of corrugated products continue to slow through July. According to the FBA, total shipments for July stand at 32.029 billion square feet, a 2.3 percent decline from figures the same time last year.

The decline for the month pushed the seven-month shipment total to 223.777 billion square feet, a 5 percent drop from the same time last year.

Reflecting the across-the-board declines in market conditions, each of the six sectors posted declines for both the month and first seven months. The steepest declines for the month was the Western U.S., which saw shipments tumble 5.9 percent. For the first seven months the largest drop was in the Southeast, which slipped 6.3 percent.

Along with the decline in shipments, the consumption of containerboard at domestic sources dropped 3.3 percent for the month to bring the monthly total to 2.463 million tons. The total for July pushed the seven-month consumption level to 16.904 million tons, a 6.3 percent drop from last year.

While consumption and shipments have been declining, the inventory of finished products have moved up over the past several months. At the end of July inventories stand at 2.460 million tons, a 4.6 percent increase from figures the same time last year.

The jump in inventory pushed the weeks of supply on hand to 4.2 weeks, compared to the previous month’s inventory of 4.1 weeks.