Skip to main content

AF&PA Releases December 2023 Packaging Papers Monthly Report

WASHINGTON – The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) released its December 2023 Packaging Papers Monthly report.

Total packaging papers & specialty packaging shipments in December remained essentially flat (+0.4%) compared to December 2022. They were down 1% when compared to the same 12 months of 2022.

  • Shipments of the biggest subgrade in bleached packaging papers – food wrapping – were 24,100 short tons for the month of December, down 15.8% year-to-date.
  • The unbleached packaging papers operating rate was 78.5%, down 5.9 points from December 2022 and also down 5.9 points year-to-date.

The complete report with detailed tables, charts and historical data can be purchased by contacting Kory Bockman at Statistics_Publications@afandpa.org or 202-463-4716.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) serves to advance public policies that foster economic growth, job creation and global competitiveness for a vital sector that makes the essential paper and packaging products Americans use every day. The U.S. forest products industry employs more than 925,000 people, largely in rural America, and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 44 states. Our industry accounts for approximately 4.7% of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP, manufacturing more than $435 billion in products annually. AF&PA member companies are significant producers and users of renewable biomass energy and are committed to making sustainable products for a sustainable future through the industry’s decades-long initiative — Better Practices, Better Planet 2030