The outstanding feature of the domestic situation in relation to United States trade in pulpwood, wood pulp, and paper is the smaller production than consumption of all three products in the populous Northeastern and Lake and Central regions. In the case of white papers and the materials therefor, the production of these two areas is supplemented chiefly by imported pulpwood, by sulphite pulp brought into the regions principally from foreign countries but also from the Pacific coast, and by imported newsprint paper. In the case of sulphate pulp and products made therefrom, the excess demand is supplied chiefly by kraft paper and board brought from the South and by imported sulphate pulp.

CONSUMPTION OF PULP AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS IN THE PRODUCTION OF PAPER, BOARD, AND OTHER PRODUCTS

Proportions of wood pulp and the other materials used in the production of paper and board.

Some kinds of paper, except for very minor quantities of filler and size, are constituted wholly of wood pulp; other kinds contain mainly wood pulp with an admixture of other fibrous materials. Paperboard usually contains considerable quantities of wood pulp but may be constituted wholly of other fibrous materials, such as waste paper, rags, and straw.

Statistics compiled by the Bureau of the Census are available for a period of years covering the production in the United States of paper and board grouped in nine major classes, each containing those papers having more or less common characteristics or uses. In 1929 the tonnages of the principal materials consumed in the paper industry of the United States were as follows:

Recent statistics for the consumption of fibrous materials other than wood pulp are not available, the Bureau of the Census having discontinued reporting the consumption of such materials with the Census of 1929, but approximate figures for the consumption of pulp in the paper industry may be obtained from official statistics regarding domestic production, imports, and exports of wood pulp and from data collected by the Tariff Commission regarding consumption of pulp in the manufacture of rayon and other cellulose products. Table 18 shows the production of the several kinds of paper and boards in the United States from 1929 to 1935, inclusive, and the approximate quantities of various kinds of wood pulp consumed in the production of these papers and boards in the same period.

TABLE 18.-Wood pulp: Production in the United States of the several kinds of paper and paperboard and approximate quantities of various kinds of imported and domestic pulp consumed in their production

3 Computed from published statistics of Bureau of the Census and from Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States.

After deduction of bleached pulp used by nonpaper industries.

Source: Calculated from statistical data published by Bureau of the Census and in Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States.

Table 18 indicates that between 6 and 61⁄2 pounds of new pulp are used for each 10 pounds of paper and board produced. Data submitted to the Commission covering the production of approximately 7,000,000 tons of paper and board in the first 9 months of 1935 (table 19) indicate that about 104.4 tons of fiber of all kinds were used to make each 100 tons of paper and board reported. In 1935 the total output of paper and board, according to the Bureau of the Census, was 10,506,000 tons, in the making of which there was an apparent consumption of 6,585,000 tons of new pulp. This indicates a consumption of approximately 4,400,000 tons of other stock in addition to new wood pulp.

Although the various kinds and grades of wood pulp and other stock have distinctive qualities which limit the use of each principally to the manufacture of a fairly well defined group of papers and boards, there is considerable variation in composition of particular types of paper and board produced in different mills and at different periods of time. The interchange of one kind or grade of wood pulp with another and of other materials with wood pulp makes it impossible to estimate accurately the quantities of the several kinds of pulp and other stock used in the manufacture of each particular kind of paper shown in table 18. However, the Commission obtained from 444 paper and board mills data on their production of paper and board and on their consumption of wood pulp and other fibrous materials. The output of these mills represents about 88 percent of the total production of paper and board in the United States. Since 403 of the

444 reporting mills produced either paper or board exclusively, it is possible to indicate roughly the relative importance of wood pulp and other stock in the production of paper and of board separately. A summary of the data for the 444 mills covering the period from January to September 1935 is given in table 19.

TABLE 19.-Wood pulp: Production of paper and board in relation to wood pulp and other stock consumed in various types of mills, January-September 1935

Source: Data obtained by the U. S. Tariff Commission in this investigation.

Of the total volume of paper and board produced in 1935 (JanuarySeptember) by the 444 mills, more than 80 percent of the paper was made by 265 mills making paper only and more than 83 percent of the total board produced was by the 138 mills producing board only. The remainder was produced by the 41 reporting mills making both paper and board.

On the average, in mills producing paper only, about 8% pounds of wood pulp and 1% pounds of other stock were used per 10 pounds of paper produced. In mills producing board only, the raw materials used averaged between 2 and 21⁄2 pounds of wood pulp and 84 and 81⁄2 pounds of other fibrous material per 10 pounds of board produced. The proportion of stock other than wood pulp used in the production of board by mills making board only is probably higher than that used in the production of board in the country as a whole. In the 41 mills producing both paper and board, the fiber other than new wood pulp consumed could not have accounted for more than 35

percent of the total raw materials used in the production of board by these mills. The bulk of the production of board by these mills was kraft board, produced principally from sulphate pulp alone or in combination with small quantities of other fiber.

Variations in the composition of paper and board]produced in different regions. Variations in the composition of the raw material of paper and board produced in different sections of the country are indicated in table 20, which shows the production of the 444 mills grouped by regions, and the amount of pulp and other stock consumed by them. TABLE 20.-Relation of production of paper and board to consumption of pulp and other stock by 444 mills, January-September 1935

Source: Data obtained by the U. S. Tariff Commission in this investigation.

The ratio of the consumption of pulp to that of other stock in the mills producing paper only did not vary greatly in the several regions, although in the Lake and Central region the proportion of other stock used is higher than elsewhere. On the other hand, there is a wide difference between the Southern region and the other regions with respect to the proportion of wood pulp used as stock in the mills producing board only. In the Lake and Central region, which is the largest producer of board, the quantity of other stock consumed in such mills was nearly six times as great as that of wood pulp, and the ratio was about the same in the Northeastern region. În the Pacific coast region about four times as much other stock as wood pulp was used. On the other hand, in the Southern region the quantity of wood pulp consumed in mills making board only was nearly three times as great as that of other stock.

8

Production of board in the South differs materially from that in the other regions. In the South, test liner constitutes the great bulk of board production, with substantial quantities of 9-point corrugating board and relatively small quantities of set-up and folding boxboard and chip board. The test liner made in the South consists almost entirely of kraft, and the corrugating board consists principally of kraft and substantial quantities of chestnut board produced from chestnut pulp made by the semichemical process. The kraft liner and corrugating board are developments of the sulphate industry for the utilization of sulphate pulp and consequently are made almost wholly of new pulp. They are used in the main for the same purposes as test liner and corrugating board made from other materials.

Test liner constitutes a substantial proportion of the board produced in the Lake and Central, Northeastern, and Pacific coast regions. The Lake and Central region is also the largest producer of 9-point corrugating board. Some of the test liner produced in these regions is kraft liner, but the bulk of it consists of jute liner, the fiber component of which is chiefly old paper with some new pulp, usually sulphate. Most of the corrugating board produced in the Lake and Central region is made from straw. The Northeastern and Lake and Central regions are also very large producers of chip board and of folding and set-up boxboard, in all of which old paper constitutes the fiber chiefly used and in some of which no new pulp is used. Summary of the uses of pulp and other materials.

The data given above, considered in conjunction with the general information obtained regarding the utilization of wood pulp and other stock in various products, are the basis for the following statements:

1. Probably about 90 percent of the sulphite and soda pulp and of the ground wood consumed in the United States is used in the manufacture of paper. Board production provides only minor outlets for these kinds of wood pulp; further, a part of such pulp used in board manufacture represents off-quality grades and screenings.

2. More sulphite pulp is used in the production of book paper in the United States than in the production of any other one kind of paper, but substantial quantities of sulphite wood pulp also are used in the manufacture of newsprint, writing, tissue, wrapping, hanging, and other kinds of paper.

3. Probably more than 50 percent of the total ground wood consumed is used in newsprint and hanging paper. Smaller quantities are used in the production of low-grade tissue, wrapping, absorbent, building, and other kinds of paper, as well as in board.

4. Practically all of the soda pulp consumed in the manufacture of paper is used in the production of book paper.

5. Approximately one-half of the total consumption of sulphate pulp is used unbleached in the production of board. Most of the board produced in the Southern region is made from sulphate pulp entirely or with a little admixture of other stock. Considerable sulphate pulp is used in the production of board in the Lake and Central and Northeastern regions also, but in these regions sulphate or other new wood pulp is a minor component only of most of the board produced. Such new pulp, however, is essential for admixture with the other materials in some kinds of board produced extensively in these two regions. The bulk of the sulphate pulp consumed in the pro

8 A board for use in the manufacture of shipping containers made to meet specifications or tests prescribed by carriers.