52 



TIMBER TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES 



Projected Demands for Most Grades of Paper 

 and Board Substantially Above Present Levels 



Projections of demand for individual grades of 

 paper and board indicate rather wide variations 

 in rates of gi'owth. 



Newsprint. — About 90 percent of the newsprint 

 consumed in the United States is used in printing 

 newspapers. Most of the remainder goes into 

 comic books, handbills, shopping news, and 

 similar items. Between 1950 and 1962, consump- 

 tion of newsprint increased from 5.9 million tons 

 to 7.4 million tons, while per capita consumption 

 rose from 77 pounds to 80 pounds. Projections 

 of per capita demand show a further rise to 105 

 pounds by 2000. This projected increase in 

 per capita use, together with the assumed popula- 

 tion of 325 million persons, indicates a total 

 demand for newsprint in 2000 of approximately 

 17.1 milhon tons. 



Groundwood paper. — Most groundwood paper 

 is used in printing catalogs, directories, periodi- 

 cals, and books, or consumed in the manufacture 

 of products such as sales books, office forms, and 

 adding machine paper. Consumption of this 

 grade has slowly increased from 0.7 million tons 

 in 1950 to 0.9 million tons in 1962. Projections 

 indicate a further slow increase to about 1.5 

 million tons in 2000. 



Book paper. — Book paper, including coated 

 printing and converting paper, is composed of a 

 large group of papers used in printing books, 

 magazines, brochures, pamphlets, and similar 

 items or in the manufacture of products such as 

 envelopes and tablets. Total consumption in- 

 creased from 2.6 million tons in 1950 to 4.0 

 million tons in 1962, and per capita consumption 

 from 34 pounds to 43 pounds. Projected per 

 capita demand in 2000 is 70 pounds and total 

 demand 11.4 million tons. 



Fine paper. — Fine paper includes a variety of 

 writing papers, manifold and onionskin papers, 

 cover and text papers, and various kinds of 

 index and printed cards. In the 1950-62 period, 

 total consumption rose from about 1.2 million 

 tons to nearly 2 million tons, and per capita 

 consumption from 15 to 22 pounds. Per capita 

 demand is projected to 35 pounds in 2000 and 

 total demand to 5.7 million tons. 



Coarse and industrial paper. — Coarse paper is 

 used for shipping sacks, bags, wrapping paper, 

 glassine and vegetable parchment papers, creping 

 papers, and envelope stock. Industrial paper is 

 used for products such as cable paper, tatiulating 

 cards, tags, blotting paper, filter paper, abrasive 

 paper, and special absorbent paper. Between 



1950 and 1962 total consumption of these papers 

 increased from 3.7 to 5.1 million tons. Per capita 

 consumption in the same period rose from 49 

 pounds to 54 pounds. Projections indicate a 

 further rise in per capita demand to 76 pounds, 

 and in total demand to 12.4 million tons in 2000. 



Sanitary and tissue paper. — This group includes 

 tissues, towels, napkins, and related papers. 

 Total consumption in 1962 amounted to 2.4 mil- 

 lion tons, a million tons above the 1.4 milhon tons 

 used in 1950. In the same period, per capita 

 consumption rose from 18 pounds to 26 pounds. 

 Per capita demand in 2000 has been projected to 

 53 pounds and total demand to 8.6 million tons. 



Construction paper. — Construction paper is 

 largely composed of roofing felts, with smaller 

 amounts of related building papers. Consump- 

 tion in 1962 amounted to 1.4 million tons, about 

 the same as in 1950. Per capita consumption in 

 this period showed a dechne from 19 pounds to 15 

 pounds. Projections show a continued decline 

 in per capita demand to 12 pounds by 2000, but 

 an increase in total demand to about 1.9 million 

 tons. 



Container hoard. — Container board, the most 

 important gi'ade of paper and board in terms of 

 tonnage, is used for solid-fiber and corrugated 

 shipping containers. Consumption in 1962 

 amounted to 9.5 million tons — nearly double the 

 5.8 million tons consumed in 1950. Per capita 

 consumption in the same period rose from 76 

 pounds to 102 pounds. Projections indicate a 

 further rise in per capita use to 180 pounds by 

 2000, and in total demand to 29.2 million tons. 

 Although these are large increases, the projected 

 annual rate of growth in consumption drops from 

 a trend level average of 4.5 percent in 1947-62 to 

 2.8 percent in the 1990's. 



Bending board. — Bending board includes both 

 folding boxboard used in the manufacture of fold- 

 ing cartons and special food board used in the 

 manufacture of containers for such items as 

 frozen foods and hot and cold drinks. Between 

 1950 and 1962, the use of bending board rose 

 from 3.1 million tons to 5.0 million tons, while 

 per capita consumption increased from 41 pounds 

 to 53 pounds. Per capita demand has been pro- 

 jected to 99 pounds in 2000, and total demand to 

 16.1 million tons. 



Building board. — Previous sections have indi- 

 cated the gi'owing importance of building board, 

 i.e., insulation board, hardboard, and particle- 

 board. As shown in the following tabulation, the 

 primary end use for building board in 1962 was 

 residential construction, followed by nonresiden- 

 tial construction. 



