Washington – According to the American Forest & Paper Association’s March 2011 Printing-Writing Paper Report, total printing-writing paper shipments increased 1% in March compared to March 2010. Two of the four major printing-writing grades posted increases compared to last March. U.S. purchases (shipments + imports – exports) of printing-writing papers decreased 2% in March. Total printing-writing paper inventory levels decreased 5% compared to February 2011.

Some points of interest from the report include:
- Uncoated free sheet (UFS) shipments increase for the first time this year.
- Year-over-year shipments of coated free sheet (CFS) remained essentially flat in March.
- Coated mechanical (CM) shipments increase year-over-year for the second time this year.
- Uncoated mechanical (UM) year-over-year exports increase for the first time in five months.  

AF&PA members can access the full report on the AF&PA StatMill web site.