Total Packaging Papers shipments were up 12.3 percent compared to April 2017, but down 1.0 percent year-to-date. Bag & Sack shipments were flat year-to-date. Multiwall shipments were down 6.7 percent, Converting shipments were down 0.4 percent and Food Wrapping shipments were up 3.1 percent. The operating rate for April increased slightly to 92.9 percent from 92.7 percent in March. Inventories were down 0.8 percent since March.
http://afandpa.org/media/news/2018/05/17/american-forest-paper-association-releases-april-2018-u.s.-packaging-papers-specialty-packaging-monthly-report
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WestRock Company announced plans today to build a new corrugated box plant in Longview, Washington, to meet the growing demand from WestRock’s regional customers in the Pacific Northwest. “WestRock’s corrugated packaging business in the Pacific Northwest continues to perform well, with strong relationships with customers in attractive growth markets,” said David B. Sewell, chief executive officer, WestRock. “Our new corrugated packaging plant will enable our team in this region to serve these customers even better in the future, with a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that will provide new capabilities and efficiencies for our customers.”
“A year ago, it never would occur to me that we would be having a conversation about the challenges of PET recycling,” Keefe Harrison, CEO of The Recycling Partnership, said in the webinar “PET Packaging: Solving for an Out-of-Sync System” on Thursday, February 12.
She said that because polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the highest recycled packaging plastic, with more than 2 billion pounds of PET bottles collected for recycling annually in the US, according to The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR). And recycled PET is also in demand for use in new packages.
But now imports are flooding the market, US PET reclamation facilities are shutting down, and domestic sourcing is in jeopardy.
My take on this … PET has been the poster child here in America for plastic packaging recycling and it’s in trouble. This does not bode well for the successful recycling of any packaging plastics in America. And if we don’t recycle, the waste crisis and climate shifts will worsen.
It has been nearly 3 years since our last increase and over that period of time we have experienced rising prices on paper and boxes 9% as well as other raw materials, components & labor rates. We are persistent in our efforts to improve our processes, however the price escalations have exceeded productivity gains. We must raise our prices 3-1/2% effective on all orders placed on or after 02/01/2021.