Corrugated Shipments Dip in November

The shipment of corrugated products dipped for October. The decline for the month ended several straight quarters when corrugated shipments climbed, often quite sharply.

For October shipments stand at 34.886 billion square feet, a 2.8 percent decline from figures the same time last year. Despite the monthly drop total shipments for the first ten months of the year stand at 328.830 billion square feet, a 2.8 percent increase from last year’s ten-month total.

The decline in shipments was seen through most regions of the country, with only the Northeastern U.S. showing an improvement. The biggest decline came from the North Central U.S., which saw shipments drop by 4.9 percent, while the Western U.S. posted a sharp 4.6 percent decline for the month.

While the decline between last month and this month was sharp, the actual average weekly shipment climbed between last year and this year. For this October average weekly shipments stand at 8.306 billion square feet, a 6.4 percent increase from the same time last year.

Along with the decline in total shipments for the month the consumption of containerboard also declined for the month. For this October consumption stands at 2.712 billion tons, a 2.8 percent drop from last October’s figure of 2.790 billion tons. While the figure is down for the month, the ten-month consumption figure stands at 25.439 million tons, a 3.6 percent increase from consumption levels from last October.