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US box shipment rose 2.4% on ‘average’ in October
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17, 2010 (RISI) - US box shipments in October rose an "average" of 2.4%, while containerboard inventories ended their four-month climb and mills cut back their operating rates, according to the latest industry statistics.
Box shipments of 29.9 billion ft2 remained flat with a year ago on an actual basis, but increased 4.8% average-week, adjusted for an extra shipping day in October 2009. Year-to-date box shipments are up 3.3% from last year's level (with the same number of shipping days in both periods), the Fibre Box Assn. reported.
Containerboard inventories at box plants and mills rose by 3,000 tons to end October at 2.239 million tons. "Inventories declined for the first time....after having increased 307,000 tons between May and June," said Mark Wilde of Deutsche Bank.
But the decline was less than the average 61,000-ton average drop shown for October over the past decade, noted Chip Dillon of Credit Suisse. Mill inventories rose by 44,000 tons, while box plant inventories declined by 47,000.
Containerboard mills throttled back operating rates to 95.7% in October from 98.7% in September, according to American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) statistics.
Linerboard export production dropped to 289,000 tons in October, down 6.5% from the previous month and down 9.6% from a year ago-despite expectations that US mills would step up export volume in the fourth quarter.
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