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U.S. production of paper and paperboard in April slipped about 4% from March to 7.8 million tons, the American Forest & Paper Assn. reported. April production was up slightly from that of April 1998. Paper production was 3.67 million tons and paperboard was 4.16 million tons; both were slightly down from March.
Canadian production was up 130,000 mtons to 1.7 million mtons in April from April 1998. Most categories showed increases. Newsprint shipments were 787,000 mtons and production was 800,000 mtons, up 6.6% from the year-ago period. Newsprint exports also rose.
U.S. market pulp shipments in April were 644,000 tons, down more than 12% from April a year ago. Total woodpulp production was 4.99 million tons, down 4.9% from April 1998. In Canada, woodpulp production totaled 2.06 million mtons, up slightly from a year ago, according to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Assn.
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|
Latest month (000 short tons) |
% change from year ago |
Annualized year-to-date (000 short tons) |
% change from year ago |
 |
| Newsprint |
April |
565 |
–3.4 |
2,327 |
–1.7 |
| Uncoated groundwood (s) |
April |
150 |
–11.8 |
623 |
–4.1 |
| Coated paper (s) |
April |
768 |
3.4 |
3,041 |
–0.9 |
| Uncoated free-sheet 7 |
April |
1,142 |
2.3 |
4,610 |
3.2 |
| Other printing/writing 7 |
April |
127 |
–4.5 |
494 |
–3.9 |
| Total packaging and other paper |
April |
n.a. |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a. |
| Tissue |
April |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a |
n.a. |
| Total paper |
April |
3,671 |
0.4 |
14,782 |
0.6 |
| Unbleached kraft paperboard |
April |
1,880 |
–3.5 |
7,648 |
3.8 |
| Semichemical medium |
April |
500 |
6.4 |
1,877 |
–6.2 |
| Bleached paperboard |
April |
476 |
2.1 |
1,865 |
1.7 |
| Recycled paperboard |
April |
1,311 |
6.8 |
5,243 |
4.2 |
| Total paperboard |
April |
4,167 |
1.4 |
16,633 |
–1.0 |
| Total paper and paperboard 5 |
April |
7,838 |
0.9 |
31,415 |
–0.3 |
 |
| Total woodpulp production |
April |
4,991 |
–6.4 |
20,475 |
–4.4 |
| Market pulp production |
April |
657 |
–10.9 |
2,638 |
–1.5 |
| Wastepaper consumption at paper/board mills |
April |
3,023 |
1.9 |
11,968 |
–2.5 |
 |
| Corrugated box shipments (billion ft2) 6 |
April |
34,273 |
1.4 |
134,351 |
3.6 |
| Containerboard inventories at mills/plants (actual) |
April |
2,542 |
–13.5 |
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| U.S. paper imports (including products) |
March |
1,538 |
7.9 |
4,362 |
6.2 |
| Imports of Canadian newsprint |
March |
600 |
1.9 |
1,721 |
1.4 |
| U.S. paper exports (including products) |
March |
1,070 |
–5.6 |
2,961 |
–11.5 |
| Exports of unbleached kraft liner |
March |
305 |
–15.7 |
883 |
–23.2 |
| Exports of woodpulp |
March |
406 |
–11.2 |
1,625 |
–9.5 |
 |
| Total newsprint shipments 6 (metric tons) |
April |
787 |
7.7 |
3,002 |
2.5 |
| Operating rates, % |
April |
95 |
5.6 |
96 |
6.7 |
| Inventories held by U.S. consumers 6 |
April |
1,287 |
–5.5 |
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| Woodpulp shipments 6 |
April |
857 |
4.4 |
3,449 |
3.4 |
| Operating rates, % |
April |
90 |
7.1 |
95 |
10.5 |
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| (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. |
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