The production of recycled paperboard stands at 1.293 million tons for April, a modest increase from figures the same time last year. The strength in the grade for the month brought the four-month production figure to 5.120 million tons, a 0.7 percent decrease from figures the same time last year.
While the figure for this year so far is down from last year’s figures, figures last month narrowed the gap between the two years. And, with anecdotal reports now of surging markets for some paperboard grades, the figures for the year to date could further improve.
Looking at all three of the recycled board divisions – linerboard, medium and boxboard – recycled linerboard posted an improvement between last year and this year. For this April production of recycled linerboard stands at 310,000 tons, pushing the four-month total to around 1.277 million tons, a 3.6 percent improvement from figures the same time last year.
While recycled linerboard improved, total linerboard production during the same time dropped by 0.9 percent, reflecting the slump in the grade over the first quarter of the year.
Recycled corrugated medium, on the other hand, declined for the first four months of the year. The drop of 1.4 percent between last year and this year came while the other component of the medium sector, semichemical, posting a 0.5 percent improvement between last year and this year.
Total corrugated medium for the first four months of the year stands at around 3.041 million tons, a 0.3 percent decline from figures the same time last year.
The final component of the recycled board industry, recycled boxboard, posted a 1.8 percent increase in production between last year and this year. For April, total production of the grade stands at 221,000 tons, pushing the four-month total to 865,000 tons.
Meanwhile, total boxboard production for the first four months stands at around 4.7 million tons, a 2.7 percent drop from figures the same time last year.
Along with the strengthening production total, the export of recycled paperboard shot up close to 19 percent for the first four months of the year, far better than the total paperboard export total, which has moved up 3.1 percent between last year and this year.