Month in Statistics

U.S. production of paper and paperboard (seasonally unadjusted) during the first 10 months of 1997 rose 5.3% over the same period last year, according to the American Forest & Paper Assn. Paper production through October was 37,485 million tons, 6.1% higher than the 1996 period, and paperboard gained 5.3% with a total of 41.9 million tons for the same period.

Among major grades (on a year-to-date basis), coated paper shipments were up 15.9% from a year ago, newsprint production rose 4.4%, and tissue was up 2.5%. Almost all grades continued to rise for the 10 months-unbleached kraft liner rose 3.3% and total packaging and other papers rose 0.2% when compared with last year. Both U.S. market woodpulp and total woodpulp production were up in October compared with the same month last year, 3.5% and 1.6%, respectively. Consumption of recovered paper at U.S. mills for October was at
3.1 million tons, up 3.7% from the
year-ago period.

Canadian newsprint shipments totaled 304,864 tons in October, up 13.6% from October 1996. Newsprint mills operated at 92% of capacity. Canadian woodpulp shipments were up 1.1% from October 1996 and reached 8.6 million metric tons for the year-to-date, with mills operating at 86% of capacity in October.