Corrugated Shipments Climb in January

The shipment of corrugated products climbed during January, reversing a decline seen the previous month. According to the Fibre Box Association, January shipments of corrugated products stand at 32.312 billion square feet, a 1.3 percent increase from figures the same time last year.

The increase was led by the Southeast, which saw shipments jump by 3.3 percent for January. The Western U.S. was the other region of the country posting a strong improvement for the month, with shipments moving up by 2.4 percent for January.

The increase in shipments resulted in increased consumption of containerboard at domestic mills. For January, total consumption of containerboard stands at 2.556 million tons, a 1.7 percent increase from the same time last year.

Along with the climb in shipments and consumption, the inventory of containerboard at corrugator plants stands at 2.4 million tons at the end of January, a 2 percent increase from figures the previous month.

While inventory increased, the total weeks of supply declined by 5 percent to 3.8 weeks.