The American Forest & Paper Association has released its papermaking statistics for November 2015.

Printing-Writing Paper Shipments

Uncoated free sheet shipments increased by 8.0%, compared to November 2014--the third increase in the past six months. Imports of UFS were down by 31%, year-over-year in October and down 10% year-to-date compared to 2014.

November coated free sheet paper shipments decreased 3.0% compared to November 2014. Imports of CFS fell by 4.0% in October, the third year-over-year decrease in the past four months.

Uncoated mechanical paper shipments decreased 4.0%, when compared to November 2014. Imports of UM papers were down 14% in October, the 16th consecutive monthly decline.

Coated mechanical shipments in November fell by 22%, compared to the same month of 2014. Imports of CM papers rose by 26% in October, compared to the same period last year, and are up 12% year-to-date.

Containerboard Shipments

Containerboard production was 1.1% greater than in November 2014. The month-over-month average daily production compared to October 2015 was 0.4% higher. The containerboard operating rate for November fell to 94.1% and the year-to-date operating rate, at 96.1%, was 0.2% lower than in the same period of 2014.

Boxboard Report

Total boxboard production in November fell by 1.7% when compared to November 20134. And dropped 1.6% from the previous month. Unbleached kraft boxboard production rose, compared both to the same month as last year and the previous month in 2015. Total solid bleached boxboard and liner production decreased when compared to November 2014 and to the previous month in 2015. Production of recycled boxboard was less than in November 2014 and also less than in October 2015.

Kraft Statistics Report

Total kraft paper shipments in November were 130.3 thousand short tons, which was 3.0% higher than in November 2014. Bleached kraft paper shipments fell from 9.4 thousand short tons in October to 6.8 thousand in November 2015, while unbleached kraft shipments fell from 139.8 thousand tons in October to 123.6 thousand in November. Overall, year-to-date shipments up to November were 2.1% higher than in the same period of 2014. Total month-end inventories fell slightly, to 76.4 thousand short tons.