North American Printing & Writing Paper- September

In September North American paper demand continued to fall. This is not positive news for the paper and pulp industry. The following is what PPPC released:
North American printing/writing paper inventories dropped by about 6% from August to the end of September, but shipments, production, and demand stayed depressed from year-ago levels.
Total North American printing/writing production was down 11.0% in September compared with a year ago, to 2.091 million tonnes, PPPC reported. Total shipments were off 9.9% to 2.224 million tonnes. Total inventories decreased 133,000 tonnes from August to September to 2.145 million tonnes and were 313,000 tonnes or 12.7% lower than in September last year. The industry overall operating rate (shipments to capacity) in September was 84%, down from 88% in August and down from 96% a year ago.
Uncoated free-sheet accounted for most of the inventory drop, according to September statistics released yesterday by the Pulp and Paper Products Council in Montreal. North American demand was down 10.2% in September to 1.038 million tonnes
Coated free-sheet (woodfree) demand was down 11.2% in September while coated groundwood (mechanical) papers demand was off 7.5%, PPPC reported.