AF&PA report shows decrease in packaging paper shipments

The Washington-based American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) this week released its monthly reports for packaging paper and specialty packaging shipments as well as printing and writing papers, with both grades seeing decreases in total shipments.

In February, total packaging papers and specialty packaging shipments in the U.S. decreased 8 percent compared with February 2024 and are down 2 percent compared with the same two months of 2024.

The slump follows a slight increase in January shipments, which were up 4 percent that month compared with January 2024.

According to the most recent report, the operating rate for unbleached packaging papers was 84.8 percent, down 3.2 points from February 2024 but up 0.6 points year to date.

Shipments of food wrapping, the biggest subgrade in bleached packaging papers, were 22,500 short tons for February, down 5.3 percent from the same month last year.

As for printing and writing papers, total shipments are down 9 percent in February compared with February 2024, while inventory levels decreased 3 percent month over month.

Meanwhile, U.S. purchases of total printing and writing papers decreased 4 percent in January compared with January 2024.

The report also says that on a daily basis, U.S. shipments across all three major printing and writing categories saw mixed results in February. Uncoated free sheet and mechanical paper shipments increased 5 percent and 15 percent, respectively, compared with January, while coated free sheet shipments decreased 3 percent.

This is the second month in a row U.S. printing and writing paper shipments decreased.

In January, total shipments decreased 7 percent compared with January 2024, however, U.S. purchases of total printing and writing papers jumped 10 percent in December according to the most up-to-date information available.