State of the Industry: Folding Cartons — Doing Well and Getting Better

The survey shows paper and paperboard capacity declining 0.7 percent in 2008, but subsequently rebounding 0.2 percent in 2009 and 0.3 percent in 2010. For the entire three-year period, capacity is projected to contract at an average annual rate of 0.1 percent.

Unbleached Kraft paper capacity rose 2.3 percent in 2007 to 1.6 million tons following a 5.3 percent decline in 2006. This increase, according to the survey, is mainly due to reclassifying capacity from specialty papers to unbleached Kraft paper. U.S. capacity to produce this grade of paper is projected to rise 0.1 percent in 2008 and 0.6 percent in 2009, with no projected change for 2010.