Recycled Board Production Shows Modest Improvement

The production of recycled paperboard posted a modest improvement over the first nine months of the year. According to the American Forest and Paper Association, production for September stands at 1.323 million tons, pushing the nine-month total to 11.862 million tons, a 0.6 percent improvement from figures the same time last year.

While the figure for the first nine months is an improvement, overall the improvement was far short of the overall improvement in paperboard production, which showed a more robust 2 percent improvement year over year.

Recycled corrugated medium and recycled linerboard both posted improved numbers for this year, while recycled boxboard showed a decline between last year and this year.

For recycled linerboard, the largest segment of the recycled board industry, total production for September stands at 318,000 tons, bringing the nine-month figure, on an annual rate, to 3.913 million tons, a 2.8 percent improvement from figures the same time last year.

Meanwhile, linerboard production overall increased by 3 percent between last year and this year.

Recycled corrugated medium also posted a strong improvement between last year and this year. For September, recycled medium production stands at 349,000 tons, bringing the nine-month number to 349,000 tons, a 2.4 percent improvement from last year.

Total corrugated medium production, however, showed a more robust 3.1 percent between last year and this year.

The final component of the recycled paperboard segment, boxboard, posted a decline of 0.3 percent between last year and this year. However, while production declined, the overall drop in boxboard production was a much sharper 1.5 percent from figures the same time last year.

While paperboard production is showing a modest improvement from last year, paper production continues to show significant problems. Over the first nine months of this year paper production reached 30.764 million tons, a 4 percent drop from figures the same time last year.

The biggest loser continues to be newsprint. Over the first nine months production of finished newsprint stands at 4.287 million tons, an 11.7 percent drop from figures the same time last year.

The biggest reason for the decline in production has been the move to shutter a host of inefficient newsprint mills throughout North America.

At the same time, Bowater and Abitibi-Consolidated continue to take extended downtime at mills throughout North America to bring supply and demand back into balance.

One promising note about the sharp production decline has been the ability of newsprint producers to push through one price hike recently.