An overview of FBA US Containerboard Stats for Dec 2011

FBA US containerboard stats for Dec 2011 show the ISM index is down to 53.9, compared to 58.5 a year ago. Weekly shipments are up 3% with mill and box plant inventories up by 3.8% compared to the month previous.

US containerboard production was up 0.8%  in December, compared to December 2010, and up 0.2% compared to the previous month. Linerboard production was up 0.6% compared to the same month the previous year.

US mill inventories increased by 0.7%, due to strategic planning to cope with increased seasonal demand in February as well as Rock Tenn’s planned downtime for maintenance in the Spring.

Average weekly US corrugated box shipments were up 3.3% in December, compared to a year ago, and up 4.7% compared to November. Total monthly shipments were down to 28.7 billion sq ft – a drop of 1.8% - although this figure has been affected by having only 19 shipping days in December, compared to 20 the previous year.

Containerboard consumption at box plants was down 2% in December, compared to the same month in the previous year.

These December figures look fairly positive for the containerboard industry and further price increases have already been announced for implementation in Feb / March 2012.

Prices for OCC have fallen 31% in the last 6 months, with January prices down to $124/st – mainly due to Chinese containerboard buyers reducing their inventories.

The overall US containerboard mill operating rate fell from 96.5% in November to 93.6% in December.

Posted Date: 06th Feb 2012