The American Forest & Paper Association and the Fibre Box Association Wednesday released April 2014 US box shipment and box plant/containerboard mill inventory data. In April, total inventories in US containerboard mills and box converting plants fell by 92,000 tons compared to the 53,900-ton 10-year average decline seen during the month of April between 2004 and 2013.
At 2.421 million tons, overall mill/box-plant system inventories are 3.6 per cent above their 10-year April average of 2.336 million tons.
Looking at weeks of supply, overall inventories would last 4.1 weeks, the highest weeks of supply for April since 2007’s 4.1 weeks of supply. Over the last 10-years, April has averaged 3.8 weeks of supply, meaning that both on an absolute level and a weeks of supply basis there is slightly more than average inventory in the system.
April box shipments were up 3.5 per cent year-over-year on an average week basis. This is a marked improvement from levels seen through 1Q 2014 where shipments were flat year-over-year and down 1.6 per cent on an average week basis.