Ship shape.

Although domestic markets remain in a slump, offshore orders have been surging, resulting in paperstock dealers shifting more of their orders to the offshore market.

The most recent figures from the U.S. Commerce Department show total paperstock exports have jumped more than 20 percent so far this year. The improvement in export markets has been driven primarily by a sharp jump in exports to China.

With more than 100,000 additional tons of capacity coming on line in China by the end of this year, demand for recovered fiber to feed these new machines is growing.

For July, the most recently reported month, exports of recovered fiber topped 1 million tons with a value of close to $100 million. The increase for the month pushed the annual rate, year to date, to 13.3 million tons.

While recovered fiber exports have surged, the export of wood pulp has sharply declined. During the same period pulp exports declined by 13.1 percent.

While China continues to drive the export market, shipments to Canada, the largest importer of U.S. recovered fiber, also posted a significant increase in shipments from the U.S. For July importers of U.S. recovered fiber stands at around 230,000 tons, an increase of 10.5 percent from figures for the same time last year.

While the export market has kept recyclers busy, the domestic production of recycled paperboard continues to languish, with the figures the first eight months of this year down more than 5 percent from figures during the same time last year.

The decline in U.S.-made recycled paperboard comes while wood pulp paperboard sectors are showing modest improvements from last year. While overall paperboard production declined by 0.5 percent during the first eight months, with the exception of recycled paperboard, other paperboard sectors posted improvements. Leading the way is semi-chemical paperboard, which improved by 3.7 percent; bleached paperboard, up 2.6 percent; and unbleached kraft paperboard, up 1.4 percent.

U.S. Producer Price Index/Mixed Paper

Sept02   565.8
Oct      551.8
Nov      506.8
Dec      483.7
Jan03    468.3
Feb      468.2
Mar      530.3
April    608.9
May      605.4
June     605.6
July     554.5
Aug      527.0
Sept     557.0

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
(Index based on 1982 avg. price as 100)

Note: Table made form bar graph.