Exports End Year on High Note

The most recent figures from the U.S. Commerce Department show total paper stock exports for 1999 at 8.286 million tons, a 2.3 percent increase from 1998 figure of 8.1 million tons. Added the overall improvement, shipments for December jumped to 802,000 tons, far exceeding the November's export total.

The largest importer of recovered fiber, Canada, however, ended up the year with less recovered fiber imported from the United States. According to the Commerce Department, shipments into Canada stand at 2.3 million tons for 1999, a 4.6 percent decline from the prior year. For December, shipments were slightly more than 220,000 tons.