<b>North American Newsprint Production Declines</B>

The production of newsprint in North America declined 4.8 percent in January to 1.355 million metric tons. The operating rate at mills in Canada and the United States stand at 96 percent of capacity, compared to last January’s rate of 97 percent of capacity.

Broken out separately production at Canadian mills reached 791,000 metric tons for the month, a 3.3 percent drop from last January. Meanwhile, U.S. newsprint mills posted a sharper 6.8 percent drop for the month to 565,000 metric tons for the month from figures the same time last year.

While production dipped, total shipments moved up 0.4 percent between last January and this January. For this year total shipments stand at 1.337 million metric tons. The biggest gainer was shipments to Canadian sources, which shot up a strong 6 percent for the month. Shipments outside North America increased 1.4 percent to 246,000 metric tons.

Shipments to the United States, the largest market for North American newsprint, dipped 0.4 percent for the month to 989,000 metric tons.

The inventory of stocks on hand at North American mills climbed slightly at the end of January from the previous month. However, the figure is still down sharply from inventory at the end of last January.