U.S.box shipments stronger than expected in December,containerboard inventories drop below 2.5 million tons

摘要

U.S.corrugated box shipments came in stronger than expected in December and total containerboard inventories dropped by 82,000 tons,according to yearend statistics from the Fibre Box Assn.last week.Box shipments in December declined 0.1% on an actual basis to 31.582 billion ft2,but adjusted for one less shipping day this year rose 5.5% on an average-week basis.Shipments for 2006 totaled 394.8 billion ft2,up 0.9% on an actual basis and up 1.3% average-week from 2005-the highest level for U.S.box shipments in five years but still 2.5% below the industry's all-time high in 1999.