The production of newsprint at North American mills continues to post steep declines, with the most recent figures showing an accelerating drop as more mills continue to take downtime.
For August, the most recently reported month, production stands at 1.142 million metric tons, a 14.6 percent drop from figures the same time last year. For the first eight months of the year production stands at 9.769 million metric tons, an 8 percent drop from figures the same time last year. North American mills operated at 85 percent of capacity during August, and 91 percent of capacity the first eight months, compared to 97 percent of capacity last August and over the first eight months.
U.S. newsprint mills were the biggest losers for the month and year to date, according to the Pulp and Paper Products Council. For August production stands at 461,000 metric tons, a 17.6 percent drop from last August. For the first eight months production stands at 4.018 million metric tons, a 10 percent drop from last year’s eight-month total of 4.463 million metric tons.
Canadian mills, while also struggling, showed a slightly better figure for the month and first eight months. For August, Canadian newsprint production stands at 681,000 metric tons, a 12.3 percent drop, while production over the first eight months stands at 5.752 million metric tons, a 6.5 percent drop from the same time last year.