US paperboard production up year on year

Two sizable end markets for recovered paper saw improved business conditions in the second quarter of this year, according to the Washington-based American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA).

Data gathered by the AF&PA show total containerboard production in the United States in this year’s second quarter increased by 7 percent compared with the same time frame in 2023.

That pattern held throughout the entire first half of this year, with year-to-date output also up 7 percent so far.

The AF&PA reports that recycled-content corrugating medium producers made 140,000 more tons of product in the first half of 2024 compared with the first half of last year. However, that sector’s mill capacity has declined by 0.2 percent because of capacity increases of 175,000 tons having come online this year.

Unbleached kraft liner production for export surged more than 44 percent over its year-ago levels and total export production for the first half of the year also is up 40 percent, the group says.

The rebound in the boxboard sector is not quite as buoyant in 2024, although recycled-content boxboard is the best performing subsector in that group. Uncoated recycled boxboard production increased 3 percent compared with the second quarter of 2023 and was up by 2 percent in the first half of this year, compared with a 1 percent decrease in year-on-year output in total boxboard production in this year’s second quarter.