International Paper announced its Board of Directors elected Tom Hamic to a newly created role: Executive Vice President and President of North American Packaging Solutions, reporting to CEO Andy Silvernail. Effective September 1, Hamic will be responsible for leading the company's Container and Containerboard businesses in North America. "Tom is a strategic and effective leader with a long track record of success," said Silvernail. "The Board and I are confident he will lead the team well as we work together to deliver excellence for our customers and profitable growth for our shareholders."

According to the report, total Containerboard production in Q3 increased 3% compared to Q3 2023. It was up 6% when compared to the same nine months of 2023. Operating rates for all major grades except Recycled Medium declined compared to Q2 2024, but total production was essentially the same between the two quarters. Production for export decreased nearly 15% from Q2 and was the lowest quarter so far in this year, but is still up more than 26% year-to-date due to the weak export numbers in the first half of 2023. Recycled Medium had a very strong quarter with production exceeding 1.9 million tons and the operating rate above 90% for the first time since Q2 2022. Semichemical Medium production on the other hand dipped below 1 million tons for the quarter due to particularly weak September numbers. New supply for Q3 increased 2.8% from Q2 and was the highest it has been since Q2 2022, with strong domestic production and imports indicating growing demand for containerboard stateside, compared to the slightly weaker exports.

Food packaging is incredibly important to our day-to-day lives but pressing sustainability issues mean that alternative materials are becoming a requirement rather than an option. The next time you’re in a grocery store imagine that food packaging didn’t exist. Your bananas and oranges don’t need packages, but buying milk or flour is suddenly a whole lot more complicated. Many foods wouldn’t be available at all, because they wouldn’t remain fresh. Food packaging is extremely important to our modern lives and plays a critical role in both the safety and sustainability of our food supply. Food packaging must be a good marketer so that people want to buy the product. It must also be cost-effective. Increasingly, people demand sustainable packaging. Perhaps most importantly, packaging must be a protector, so the food remains safe.