Skip to main content

AF&PA Releases March 2025 Packaging Papers Monthly Report

WASHINGTON – The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) released the March 2025 Packaging Papers Monthly report.  

Total packaging papers & specialty packaging shipments in March increased 1% compared to March 2024. They were down 1% when compared to the same 3 months of 2024. 

  • The operating rate for bleached packaging papers was 74.8%, essentially flat (+0.5 pts.)  from March 2024 and essentially flat (-0.2 pts.) year-to-date. 

  • Shipments of the biggest subgrade in unbleached packaging papers – bag & sack – were 113,400 short tons for the month of March, essentially flat (-0.4%) from the same month last year, and down 3.2% year-to-date. 

The complete report with detailed tables, charts and historical data can be purchased by contacting Kory Bockman at Statistics_Publications@afandpa.org or 202-463-4716. 

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) serves to advance public policies that foster economic growth, job creation and global competitiveness for a vital sector that makes the essential paper and packaging products Americans use every day. The U.S. forest products industry employs more than 925,000 people, largely in rural America, and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 44 states. Our industry accounts for approximately 4.7% of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP, manufacturing more than $435 billion in products annually. AF&PA member companies are significant producers and users of renewable biomass energy and are committed to making sustainable products for a sustainable future through the industry’s decades-long initiative — Better Practices, Better Planet 2030