Significant downtime taking place in North America has not been limited to the paperboard segment. The most recent figures from the American Forest and Paper Association show paper production through the first nine months of this year posted a decline.
According to the association, over the first nine months of the year domestic paper production stands at 30.186 million tons, a 2.7 percent drop from figures the same time last year.
Declines were seen in a number of the individual paper groups. Newsprint, which has been one of the hardest hit grades, posted a 1.3 percent drop over the first nine months of this year to 4.233 million tons; and printing and writing paper, the largest component of the paper industry, reported production declining by 3.3 percent to 17.719 million tons.
One of the few grades to show improvement from last year was tissue paper production, which posted a 0.5 percent increase in production between last year and this year.
Reflecting the continued difficult market for the paper industry, the consumption of recovered fiber at domestic mils continues its downward trend. For September, paper stock consumption stands at 2.723 million tons, down sharply from last September’s figure of 2.905 million tons.
The figures for September brings the nine-month consumption figure to 25.124 million tons, a 4.6 percent decline from last year’s nine-month consumption total of 26.326 million tons.
While recovered fiber consumption continued to fall through the year, the increased demand from overseas interests is forcing more mills to increase their purchasing to guarantee themselves a steady flow of material.
Despite an increase in buying, run times have not reflected any increase in buying. At the end of September, the inventory of recovered fiber at domestic mills stands at 1.028 million tons, a 2.9 percent increase from inventory levels the previous month. Further, the inventory level for the month is a 2.8 percent increase from inventory levels found the same time last September.