AF&PA: U.S. Containerboard Output Posted Notable Surge

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) released the containerboard monthly report for December 2020 and for the full year 2020.

The report states that monthly containerboard production in December last year surged higher by 3% over the previous year. The full-year production was up by 4% when matched with 2019.

The monthly production of containerboard for export recorded drastic decline by 22%, compared to the same month in 2019. However, for the year 2020, the production surged higher by nearly 9%.

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The containerboard operating rate remained more or less flat at 93.7% in December 2020. The full-year operating rate has surged by 2.3%.

AF&PA reported month-on-month hike in mill inventories of containerboard in December 2020 by 3,000 short tons. The year-end mill inventories too were up by 3,000 short tons, compared with end-2019 level.

The Association also released its December 2020 Packaging Papers & Specialty Packaging Monthly report. The total shipments in December 2020 and full-year 2020 increased by 8% and 5% respectively from the year-ago shipments. The operating rate was up by 0.6% from December 2019 at 83.3%. The mill inventories increased 2,000 short tons from the prior month.