Month inSTATISTICS  
   

 
  U.S. shipments of paper, paperboard, and pulp were down in 1998, the American Forest & Paper Assn. reported. Paper and board shipments were 94.68 million tons, 0.4% less than in 1997. Total woodpulp production was off 2.2% and chemical paper grade market pulp production dropped 6.8%.

Newsprint shipments declined 1.4% to 6.48 million tons. The decline resulted from a 21% reduction in exports, although domestic shipments rose 1.7%. Even with the slight falloff, U.S. newsprint shipments of 7.14 million tons were the second-highest since 1991, the association said. U.S. imports of newsprint from Canada declined 4.8% in 1998.

U.S. shipments of printing/writing papers declined 0.2% last year due to inroads by imports and a sharp drop in exports (P&PW, Feb. 8, p. 6). Among the four major grade categories, only uncoated groundwood shipments posted an increase—up 9%.

Kraft paper shipments registered a 5.6% decline in 1998, reflecting a 2.3% reduction in the unbleached grades and a 21.6% setback in the bleached category. Containerboard production slid 1.9%; domestic shipments rose a slight 0.6% while export-related production was down a sharp 17.4%.
Newsprint December 599 -1.3 7,168 -0.7
Uncoated groundwood (s) December 192 3.8 2,253 9.0
Coated paper (s) December 738 -7.6 9,132 -0.7
Uncoated free-sheet 7 December 1,154 -0.1 13,652 -0.3
Other printing/
writing 7		 December 122 6.0 1,544 -1.1
Total packaging and other paper December n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Tissue December n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Total paper December 3,768 0.3 44,923 0.5
Unbleached kraft paperboard December 1,748 -13.3 23,176 -0.3
Semichemical medium December 464 -5.3 5,713 -5.5
Bleached paperboard December 431 -9.1 5,525 -0.4
Recycled paperboard December 1,250 -1.3 15,350 -1.1
Total paperboard December 3,892 –8.3 49,765 –1.2
Total paper and paperboard 5 December 7,660 –2.2 94,687 -0.4
Total woodpulp production December 5,058 –8.5 64,016 –2.2
Market pulp production December 679 –2.4 8,051 –6.8
Wastepaper consumption at paper/board mills December 2,861 –3.3 36,411 0.5
Corrugated box shipments (billion ft2) 6 December 32.213 4.2 395.495 1.4
Containerboard inventories at mills/plants December 2,607 -2.7 32,342 -0.9
U.S. paper imports (including products) November 1,389 1.0 16,577 6.0
Imports of Canadian newsprint November 527 –8.8 6,588 –5.5
U.S. paper exports (including products) November 921 –7.4 12,321 –6.5
Exports of unbleached kraft liner November 252 –15.7 3,681 –17.0
Exports of woodpulp November 432 -14.6 5,439 –15.3
Total newsprint shipments 6 (metric tons) December 712 –7.4 8,541 –8.7
Operating rates, % December 95 89.0 87 93.0
Inventories held by U.S. consumers 6 December 1,272 –1.6 n.a. n.a.
Woodpulp shipments 6 December 945 15.4 9,905 –2.6
Operating rates, % December 91 83.0 86 89.0
(s) = Shipments. n.a. = not available. 1. American Forest &Paper Assn. 2. AF&PA, Bureau of Census, American Pulpwood Assn. 3. Fibre Box Assn., Paperboard Packaging Council. 4. Canadian Pulp and Paper Assn. 5. Includes construction and wet machine grades. 6. Not annualized. 7. Categories have been revised: thin papers, previously included under the “other printing/writing” category, is now part of uncoated free-sheet. “Other printing/writing” now encompasses only bristols and cotton fiber papers.
Look back at statistics for each of the previous months from Pulp & Paper magazine
Pulp & Paper Issue Date: Statistics for the month of:
March 1999 November 1998
February 1999 October 1998
January 1999 September 1998
December 1998 August 1998
November 1998 July 1998
October 1998 June 1998
September 1998 May 1998
August 1998 April 1998
July 1998 March 1998
June 1998 February 1998
May 1998 February 1998
April 1998 December 1997
March 1998 November 1997
February 1998 October 1997
   
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