Recycled Board Production Down First Three Months

The production of recycled paperboard over the first three months of the year declined by 1.7 percent from figures the same time last year.

According to the American Forest and Paper Association, total production stands at 3.828 million tons this year, compared to 3.894 million tons the same time last year.

Despite the decline between the two years, recycled board production for this March is up sharply from the prior month. For March, production stands at 1.331 million tons, compared to February’s production total of 1.192 million tons. Despite the improvement, March’s figure is off slightly from last March’s figure of 1.355 million tons.

While total recycled board production is down for the first three months, the production of recycled linerboard, in fact, jumped a sharp 3.5 percent between the two years. According to the AFPA, March’s production stands at 344,000 tons, bringing the annual rate, year to date, to 3.869 million tons.

The improvement in recycled linerboard comes while total linerboard production declined by 1.4 percent between last year and this year.

On the other hand, the production of recycled corrugated medium posted a decline of 3.1 percent between last year and this year. For March, production stands at 341,000 tons. For the first three months of the year production declined by 3.1 percent. In comparison, total corrugated medium production posted a much smaller 2 percent drop from figures the same time last year.