Market Pulp Production Firms for December

The production of market pulp by North American producers firmed for December after a sharp decline through most of last year. According to the Pulp and Paper Products Council production for the last month of the year stands at 1.534 million metric tons, a 6 percent increase from figures the same time in 2000.

Despite the improvement for the month production for 2001 ended up down 11 percent at slightly more than 17 million metric tons, compared to 2000’s production total of around 19 million metric tons.

The operating rate at North American pulp mills also improved during December. For this past December the operating rate stands at 90 percent of capacity, compared to 2000’s operating rate of 85 percent of capacity. For the full year the average operating rate stands at 84 percent of capacity, compared to 2000’s operating rate of 94 percent of capacity.

While overall production improved for the years, the split between the United States and Canada were clear. U.S. pulp producers realized a 20 percent increase in production for the month, while Canadian pulp mills posted a 4 percent decline for the month.

Through the year, U.S. mills reported a 6 percent drop in production from 2000 to 2001. Meanwhile, Canadian mills posted a much steeper 14 percent drop between the two years.

The shipment of finished pulp also improved for the month, according to the PPPC. December’s shipment total stands at 1.481 million metric tons, a 6 percent improvement from 2000 December figures.

For the full year shipments are down 7 percent to 17.250 million metric tons.

Both Canada and the United States realized increases in shipment figures for the month, with Canada seeing a 3 percent increase for the month, and the U.S. pulp producers seeing a much sharper 10 percent increase.

For the year, shipments from Canada declined 10 percent to 9.818 million metric tons, while shipments from U.S. sources declined by 3 percent to 7.432 million metric tons.