Containerboard Prices Continue to decline

List prices on both 42-lb linerboard and medium fell another $15/ton in April. Box shipments in March fell 12.1% vs March 2008 this after 10.5% February 2008 vs 2009. Some industry experts state relative improvement in April box shipments Despite weak March shipments, inventories
declined 115K tons m/m, driven by a drop in operating rates to 77% (82.7% in Feb).
Many industry experts believe North America excess capacity could be s large as large as 4million tons . Two mills, International Paper and Smurfit-Stone may be close to announcing capacity
Closures. They are the market leaders with almost 50% of combined industry capacity. FYI, Georgia-Pacific is third largest producer.