Board Converting News, May 2, 2022

NAM: Activity Strenghtens (CONT’D FROM PAGE 5)

Box Shipments ( U.S. Corrugated Product Shipments) Industry Shipments In Billions of Square Feet Month December 2021

Manufacturers continued to cite supply chain bottle- necks and workforce shortages as significant challenges to growth, and inflation remained highly elevated, with output prices soaring to a new all-time high and input costs not far from November’s record high. Meanwhile, the S&P Global Flash Eurozone Manufac- turing PMI decreased from 56.5 in March to 55.3 in April, the weakest reading since January 2021. The Russian in- vasion of Ukraine negatively impacted activity, with new orders and output expanding at the slowest pace since June 2020 and exports contracting for the second straight month. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank’s composite index declined from 27.4 in March to 17.6 in April but con- tinued to signal expanding growth in the manufacturing sector in the district. Hiring grew at the fastest pace in the survey’s history, which dates to May 1968. Raw material costs also picked up solidly in April, expanding at a pace not seen since June 1979. Yet, respondents to the Philly Fed’s survey felt less optimistic in their outlook and orders, with the forward-looking composite index dropping to the lowest reading since December 2008. The average fixed-rate 30-year mortgage was 5.11% this week, up from 3.11% at the end of 2021 and the highest since Thursday, April 8, 2010, according to Freddie Mac. Visit www.nam.org for more information.

Year

Actual

Percent Change Avg Week Percent Change

2021 2020

34.195 34.916

-2.1

8.549 8.729

-2.1

Industry Total

Year-to Date

December 2021

Year

Actual

Percent Change Avg Week Percent Change

2021 2020

416.338 406.776

2.4

8.294 8.071

2.8

Industry Total

Containerboard Consumption (Thousands of Tons)

Year

Month

Percent Change Year-to-Date Percent Change

2021 2020

2.7372 2.7727

-1.3

33.8477 33.0739

2.3

Container Board Inventory - Corrugator Plants (Thousands of Tons)

Corrugator Plants Only

Date

Percent Change Weeks of Supply

Percent Change

Dec. Nov.

2.256 2.203

2.4

3.3 3.3

0

Shipping Days

Year

Month

Year-to-Date

2021 2020

20 20

251 252

SOURCE: Fibre Box Association

www.boardconvertingnews.com

6

May 2, 2022

Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online