North American Newsprint Production Improves in October

After a steady decline through most of this year, production of newsprint by North American mills improved for October. For the month production stands at 1.228 million metric tons, a 1.9 percent improvement from the same time last year.

During the month the operating rate at newsprint mills increased to 91 percent of capacity, compared to last October’s operating rate of 89 percent of capacity.

While the monthly figure is an improvement, the production figure for the first 10 months is less upbeat. For 2002, newsprint production stands at 11.420 million metric tons, a 4.8 percent decline from figures the same time last year. Additionally, the operating rate this year averages 87 percent of capacity, compared to last year’s 10-month average of 91 percent of capacity.

While production is up for the month, the improvement was driven exclusively by Canadian mills. For October, U.S. newsprint production declined by 3.4 percent to 476,000 metric tons. At the same time, Canadian newsprint production stands at 752,000 metric tons, a 5.6 percent improvement from figures the same time last year.

The figure for the first 10 months shows an even sharper difference. While Canadian mills produced 0.6 percent, with a 10-month total of 7.056 million metric tons, U.S. newsprint mills dropped by 11 percent between the two years.

The difference in production totals also is reflected in the sharply different operating rates. Canadian newsprint mills posted an average operating rate of 91 percent of capacity over the first ten months, while U.S. newsprint mills struggled with an operating rate of around 82 percent of capacity.