The shipment of corrugated products improved for September, breaking a streak of several straight months with declining shipment totals. For the month, shipments totaled 31.593 billion square feet, a 2.9 percent improvement from figures the same time last year.
A promising sign is that each of the six regions of the country posted improvements in shipments, as opposed to the past several months when, depending on the region, some regions posted sharp declines in shipments, while other regions posted modest improvements.
While shipments were up for the month, for the first ten months of the year shipments are down a modest 0.6 percent to 284.662 billion square feet.
Along with the improvement in shipments, the consumption of containerboard at domestic plants improved a much sharper 5.5 percent for the month. According to the FBA, shipments stand at around 2.5 million tons, compared to last year’s September consumption total of 2.338 million tons.
For the first nine months consumption stands at 21.814 million tons, a modest 0.1 percent drop from last year.
While both shipment and consumption increased, the inventory of containerboard at corrugator plants also posted a sharp jump. At the end of September inventory stands at 2.450 million tons, a 5.5 percent increase from figures the previous month. Despite the jump in levels, the weeks of supply on hand declined, from 4.1 weeks during August to 4 weeks of supply by the end of September.Latest from Recycling Today
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