According to a report Tuesday (July 19) by Midland Paper's (Wheeling, Ill., USA) News Service, citing both RISI (Boston, Mass.) and the AF&PA (Washington, D.C.), U.S. containerboard inventories in June showed their biggest drop for the month in more than a decade, plunging 152,000 tons on stronger than expected box shipments and still high linerboard exports, according to the latest Fibre Box Association (FBA) and American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) statistics.

The drop brought inventories down to 2.426 million tons in June, a level about 7% higher than the 10-year average for June. The 152,000-ton decline compares with an average decline of about 4,000 tons for June during the past decade, according to analysts.

Box shipments of 32.555 billion sq.-ft. in June were up 1.5% in June from a year ago on an actual and average week basis—higher than most analysts expected.

For the first half, box shipments were up 1.6% on an actual basis from a year ago, but flat average week adjusted for two more shipping days this year.

Containerboard mill operating rates in June remained at 95.6%, the same level as May and slightly above the 94.5% rate for the first half of 2016.