North
American printing and writing paper shipments declined 6.7% last month,
bringing their total year-to-date reduction to 5.2%, according to the Pulp and
Paper Product Council's March statistics.
Both
uncoated freesheet and coated mechanical volumes posted 7.3% volume reductions,
while uncoated mechanical volumes declined 2.2%. Demand for the four main grades was down 6.7% overall in March, with uncoated freesheet falling 7.6% and uncoated mechanical down 4.8%.
Overall mill operating rates were 88%, five percentage points lower than in March last year.
