Recycled Board Production Flat for Year

The production of recycled paperboard remained flat for the year, according to the end-of-year statistics from the American Forest and Paper Association. For December, production of recycled board stands at 1.103 million tons, bringing the 12-month production level to 15.493 million tons, essentially unchanged from the previous year’s figure of 15.495 million tons.

While recycled paperboard remaining essentially unchanged between 2001 and last year, total paperboard production posted a much stronger 2 percent improvement between 2001 and last year, with total production last year standing at 47.745 million tons.

While total production remained changes, the production of recycled corrugated medium and recycled linerboard both climbed for the month. Meanwhile, the production of recycled boxboard declined.

For recycled linerboard, December’s figure of 264,000 tons pushed the figure for the year to 3.793 million tons, a 0.6 percent improvement from the total the same time in 2001.

While recycled linerboard posted a modest improvement, total linerboard production showed a much stronger 2.9 percent improvement between the two years. Unbleached kraft, the largest segment of the linerboard industry posted a robust 3.4 percent improvement between last year and this year.

Recycled corrugated medium also posted an improvement for the year. According to the AFPA, production for the month of 283,000 tons pushed the full year production total to 4.089 million tons, a 0.9 percent improvement from totals the same time in 2001.

Total corrugated medium production, however, posted a much stronger swing between the two years. For 2001, total medium production climbed by 3.1 percent to 9.610 million tons. The improvement was led by strong semichemical production, which climbed 4.8 percent for the year.