The American Forest & Paper Association has released its paper production summaries for the month of May. Complete reports, including detailed tables, charts and historical data on each of the categories are available for purchase at Statistics_Publications@afandpa.org.

Printing-writing papers. Total printing-writing paper shipments fell by 4.0% in May, compared to May 2015. Total printing-writing inventory decreased 2.0% from April levels.

Uncoated free sheet. UFS paper shipments were essentially flat compared to May 2015, down less than one-half of one percent. UFS imports were down 20% year-over-year in April.

Coated free sheet. UFS paper shipments were down 1.0% compared to May 2015. Imports of CFS papers fell 11% in April, with exports down 1.0% year-over-year.
Uncoated mechanical. UM paper shipments were off 7.0% from the level of May 2015. Imports of UM papers were down 3.0% in April, while exports of UM in April were off 37% compared to the previous year.

Coated mechanical. CM shipments in May decreased 18% compared to the same month of 2015. Imports of CM rose 1.0% in April, compared to April 2015.

Kraft papers. Total kraft paper shipments in May were 138 thousand short tons, 1.3% less than in May 2015. Bleached kraft shipments were down from 8.5 thousand tons in April 2016 to 7.0 thousand in May. Unbleached kraft shipments rose from 129.3 thousand tons in April to 131 thousand in May. Overall, shipments in the first five months of 2016 were off 1.1% compared to the same period in 2015. Total month-end inventories rose from 76.2 thousand tons in April to 79.2 thousand in May.

Containerboard report. Containerboard production in May was 1.3% greater than in May 2015. The month-over-month average daily production in May was 2.0% higher than in April. The containerboard operating rate for May rose from 94.3% to 95.6% while the year-to-date operating rate of 94.3% was 1.5% lower than the same period of 2015.

Boxboard production. Total boxboard production in May was 2.5% less than in May 2015, but rose by 5.9% from April 2016. Unbleached kraft boxboard production was down from the level of May 2015, but up from April of this year. Total solid bleached boxboard and liner production was down from May 2015, but up from April 2016. Production of recycled boxboard decreased compared to May 2015, but was up from April this year.