The total printing and writing paper shipment figures fell five percent in January alone.
Printing Impressions World reported on the fall, recorded by the American Forest and Paper Association’s January 2017 Printing-writing paper report, which noted that “total printing-writing paper inventory levels were flat from December 2016”, and that the five percent fall was “compared to January 2016”. The report also looked at different types of paper and how they performed.
Uncoated free sheet (UFS) shipments fell three percent year-over-year, while imports increased 16 percent in December year-over-year, finishing 2016 14 percent below 2015, and seeing exports fall 11 percent over the whole year. Coated free sheet (CFS) shipments fell five percent year-over-year, while imports fell by the same amount in December, but grew two percent in 2016, while exports only fell one percent in the year.
Uncoated mechanical (UM) shipments fell 18 percent year-over-year in January, while imports grew two percent in December but fell seven percent compared to 2015 over the whole of 2016, and exports fell 11 percent over the year, a fall of 10 percent compared to 2015. Finally, coated mechanical (CM) shipments fell two percent compared to January 2016, with imports up 27 percent in December year-over-year, and up three percent for 2016, with exports two percent up in December and five percent down compared to 2015.