Recycled Board Production Down First Four Months

The production of recycled paperboard over the first four months of the year dropped sharply as the domestic paper industry continues to struggle with difficult markets.

According to recent figures from the American Forest and Paper Association production for April stands at 1.249 million tons, compared to last April’s figure of 1.343 million tons.

For the first four months production stands at 5.087 million tons, a 7.1 percent decline from last year. All three components in the recycled paperboard industry showed weakness. Recycled linerboard production dropped by close to 11 percent between the two years. For this year production stands at 3.658 million tons. The drop is much steeper than the overall linerboard production figure, which dipped a much smaller 8.1 percent.

Recycled corrugated medium also softened between the two years, although the weakness was not as bad. For the first four months of the year recycled medium production dropped 4.9 percent, compared to a total medium production decline of 8.4 percent.

Recycled boxboard production, the most mature of the recycled paperboard segments, also posted a decline between last year and this year. For April production of the grade stands at 215,000 tons, pushing the year to date figure total on an annual rate, to 2.664 million tons, a 4.9 percent drop from last year’s figures.

Meanwhile, total boxboard production dropped a slighter 4.3 percent between the two years.