Corrugated Shipments Jump for November

Despite overall shipments being down 0.4 percent during November from figures the same time last year, the shipment of corrugated products on an average week, averaged a strong 7.870 billion square feet, a 4.8 percent increase from figures the same time last year.

For the month, shipments stand at 29.906 billion square feet, compared to last November’s figure of 30.031 billion square feet.

For the month, the North Central U.S. was the biggest lower, with total shipments declining by 1.9 percent for the month. However, the average weekly shipments stand at 934 million square feet, a 3.3 percent increase from the weekly average the same time last year.

Meanwhile, the Western U.S. was the one region seeing a jump for the month, with total shipments at 5.150 billion square feet, a 1.5 percent increase. The average weekly shipments stand at 1.355 billion square feet, a 6.8 percent increase from figures the same time last year.

For the first 11 months of the year shipments stand at 349.436 billion square feet, a 0.5 percent decline from figures the same time last year. The Northeastern U.S. saw the largest decline between the two years, with this year’s figure of 51.673 billion square feet a drop of 3 percent from figures the same time last year.

While shipments dipped, the total consumption climbed between this November and last November. According to the Fibre Box Association, consumption for this November stands at 2.211 million tons, a 1.1 percent improvement from figures last November.

The consumption of containerboard also posted an increase between last year and this year. For this year the 11-month consumption total stands at 26.747 million tons, a 0.3 percent increase from last year’s total.

Meanwhile, the increase in consumption resulted in a decline in the containerboard inventory at corrugator plants. At the end of November inventory stands at 2.397 million tons, a 2.4 percent drop from figures the same time last year. Meanwhile, the weeks of supply on hand held the same at 4.1 weeks of supply.