Signal · Commodities & Input Costs

AF&PA Releases Q2 2026 Containerboard Quarterly Report

AF&PA monthly Packaging Papers and Printing-Writing reports (public headline releases) Authoritative source Published 31st July 2026 United States

Open original report afandpa.org

What the source reported

Source-reported

According to the report, the total industry operating rate increased to nearly 95% for the quarter compared to 93% for the preceding quarter. Total containerboard production in Q2 decreased 2% compared to Q2 2025. It was down 5% when compared to the same 6 months of 2025. The operating rates for 3 of the 4 major grades increased in Q2, with unbleached Kraft liner in particular going up to 95.7%. Recycled medium was the only grade that had an essentially flat operating rate since Q1—down 0.1 points to 93.5%. Domestic demand was up 1% compared to the same quarter last year, despite the aforementioned decrease in total production over the same period. Most of the production decline contributed to reduced exports, which were down nearly 19% since Q2 2025. Mill inventories dropped to their lowest level in over 15 months at the end of June.

Publication: AF&PA monthly Packaging Papers and Printing-Writing reports (public headline releases) · Commodity/Energy Organisation
Published: 31st July 2026
Original report: afandpa.org

ProcIntel stores what the source published in its feed — a headline, a summary and a link. It does not store or reproduce the full article.

What ProcIntel recorded

ProcIntel-derived

Category: Commodities & Input Costs
Geography: United States
Organisations: None identified
Collected: 30th September 2026 · 05:45

Initial assessment ProcIntel's automatic, provisional read of this individual Signal -- Initial Significance and Initial Confidence, computed deterministically before any Event extraction or human review.

A provisional, automatically computed reading of this individual Signal, before Event extraction or human review. Not a final rating.

Significance 1 · Low

Confidence 2 · Low

Initial Significance Low (14.0/100). Strongest contributor: Procurement Impact (6.0/30 points). Limiting factor: Geographic Breadth (0.0/10 points). Initial Confidence Low (39.5/100, data sufficiency: Partial). Strongest contributor: Source Authority (28.0/40 points). Limiting factor: Corroboration (2.5/25 points).

Strongest contributor: Procurement Impact
Limiting factor: Geographic Breadth

What the source reported

What ProcIntel recorded

Initial assessment ⓘMore about Initial Signal AssessmentProcIntel's automatic, provisional read of this individual Signal -- Initial Significance and Initial Confidence, computed deterministically before any Event extraction or human review.

Initial assessment ProcIntel's automatic, provisional read of this individual Signal -- Initial Significance and Initial Confidence, computed deterministically before any Event extraction or human review.