After steady declines in shipment levels through most of 2003, the shipment of corrugated products jumped by 2 percent for October to 35.708 billion square feet. The jump offsets several recent months when shipments posted steep declines.
According to the Fibre Box Association, total shipments stand at 35.708 billion square feet, compared to last October’s shipment total of 34.993 billion square feet. Shipments in the South Central U.S. the largest sector, posted the sharpest jump between the past two months, about 4.7 percent. The other large gainer for the month was the Western U.S., which saw shipments climb by 4.3 percent to 6.594 billion square feet.
Despite the jump for October, shipments over the first ten months of the year still lag. According to the FBA, shipments total 317.959 billion square feet, a 0.9 percent decline from figures the same time last year.
Along with the improvement in shipments, the consumption of containerboard also increased for the month. For October, consumption stands at 2.775 million tons, a 1.9 percent increase from last October’s total.
For the first ten months of the year, however, consumption stands at 24.425 million tons, a 0.7 percent drop from last year’s ten-month total.
While shipments and consumption have declined, the inventory of containerboard at corrugator plans dipped. At the end of October, inventory stands at 2.276 million tons, a drop of 2.7 percent from the previous month’s figure of 2.339 million tons.
Meanwhile, the weeks of supply on hand also dropped, from 3.9 weeks at the end of September, to 3.8 weeks at the end of October, a 2.6 percent drop.