Declines Continue in Printing-Writing Paper Shipments, Recovered Paper Consumption
Overall, consumption of recovered paper in 2011 was 5 percent lower than in 2010. Inventories increased to their highest level of the year in December, bringing days of supply up one day to 12, though they still fell short of the 922 thousand tons of ending stocks for December 2010.
U.S. exports of recovered paper dropped 6 percent in November, marking the lowest export volume in 2011 since February. The volume drop was accompanied by noticeable decreases in average dollars/ton values for mixed, newspapers and pulp substitutes. Year-to-date, exports in 2011 are 13 percent higher than last year by volume. Import tons were flat in November, keeping year-to-date volumes 29 percent higher than in 2010, but they also suffered a significant decrease in average dollars/ton values.