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Here are some questions and answers about corrugated box figures and why they are important to the economy as a whole.
Q: Where do corrugated box shipment figures come from?
A: The monthly figures are collected by a trade group called the Fibre Box Association. Those numbers are important enough that economists at the Federal Reserve use them, among many other statistics, when they compile reports on the nation's industrial output.
Q: Are corrugated box shipment figures a good predictor of where the economy is heading?
A: Some experts think they offer a good sign of what's to come -- a "leading indicator," as economists say. Others see them as a "coincident indicator," meaning that an increase in the figures happens at the same time that the overall economy is improving, not before a recovery.
Either way, many experts find the numbers to be useful as they try to assess the state of the economy.
According to the Fibre Box Association, shipments fell 3.5 percent in the second quarter of last year, compared with a year earlier. Then they fell 3.3 percent in the third quarter. After that, the bottom fell out: Shipments fell 9.9 percent in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier.
This year corrugated box shipments have fallen, on a year-over-year basis, 5.1 percent in January and 8.3 percent in February. The numbers for March will be out in mid-April.
"There has been no improvement relative to the previous three months," Longbow Research analyst Joshua Zaret said. "March should show some seasonal improvement within a context of weak overall demand, but these are very poor numbers."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/bal-cardboardbox0413,0,5871809.story
Here are some questions and answers about corrugated box figures and why they are important to the economy as a whole.
Q: Where do corrugated box shipment figures come from?
A: The monthly figures are collected by a trade group called the Fibre Box Association. Those numbers are important enough that economists at the Federal Reserve use them, among many other statistics, when they compile reports on the nation's industrial output.
Q: Are corrugated box shipment figures a good predictor of where the economy is heading?
A: Some experts think they offer a good sign of what's to come -- a "leading indicator," as economists say. Others see them as a "coincident indicator," meaning that an increase in the figures happens at the same time that the overall economy is improving, not before a recovery.
Either way, many experts find the numbers to be useful as they try to assess the state of the economy.
According to the Fibre Box Association, shipments fell 3.5 percent in the second quarter of last year, compared with a year earlier. Then they fell 3.3 percent in the third quarter. After that, the bottom fell out: Shipments fell 9.9 percent in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier.
This year corrugated box shipments have fallen, on a year-over-year basis, 5.1 percent in January and 8.3 percent in February. The numbers for March will be out in mid-April.
"There has been no improvement relative to the previous three months," Longbow Research analyst Joshua Zaret said. "March should show some seasonal improvement within a context of weak overall demand, but these are very poor numbers."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/bal-cardboardbox0413,0,5871809.story