Monthly statistics from the AFPA show the production of recycled paperboard posting a modest increase over the first eight months of the year.
The production of recycled paperboard stands at 1.367 million tons for August, the same as figures from the same time last year. Figures for the month pushed the eight-month total to 10.538 million tons, a 0.7 percent improvement from figures the same time last year.
While overall production did improve for the first eight months, total paperboard production increased by a better 1.6 percent between this year and last year.
Broken out by individual recycled board groups, the production of recycled linerboard posted a strong 3.5 percent improvement between last year and this year. For August, production of the grade stands at 337,000 tons, pushing the annual rate, year to date, to 3.925 million tons.
The figures for the month and year to date top the overall linerboard production figure, which shows a 2.3 percent improvement between last year and this year.
Recycled corrugated medium also showed some improvements between last year and this year. For this August production stands at 367,000 tons, bringing the 12-month total to 4.211 million tons. The figures are up a sharp 3.4 percent from figures the same time last year. As has been the case with linerboard, the production of recycled corrugated medium increased at a sharper clip than total medium production, which grew at a rate of 3 percent.
The one laggard grade continues to be recycled boxboard. For August production of this grade stands at 223,000 tons, bringing the annual rate, year to date, to 2.626 million tons. The figure is a decline of 0.6 percent from figures the same time lat year.
While the figure is down slightly from last year, the decline is far less than total boxboard production, which declined by a sharper 1.7 percent between last year and this year.