Paper is a large, globally traded manufacturing sector spanning graphic papers, packaging grades, tissue and other paperboard products. In 2024, global paper and paperboard production reached 423 million tonnes, while exports reached 112 million tonnes. The indicators below separate production, capacity, municipal waste, recycling and recovered-paper trade so that each figure is read in its proper geographic and statistical context.
Contents
- Global production and trade
- Regional industry scale
- U.S. capacity and product mix
- U.S. paper in municipal waste
- Recycling and disposal outcomes
- Recovered fiber and circularity
Global production and trade
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported 423 million tonnes of global paper and paperboard production in 2024. That was 4% above 2023, 5% above 2020 and 30% above 2000. The same FAO data series recorded 112 million tonnes of exports in 2024: exports rose 7% from 2023, fell 1% from 2020 and increased 14% from 2000. These are production and international-export measures, not a direct estimate of domestic consumption. FAO, Data | Forest Products Statistics
The preceding FAO 2023 reference release gives a different annual snapshot. World paper and paperboard production fell 3% to 401 million tonnes in 2023, while world trade fell 7% to 104 million tonnes, the lowest trade level since 2010. Because the 2024 data page and 2023 release are different reference vintages, their totals should not be treated as one unrevised annual series. FAO, Global forest products facts and figures 2023 shows fall in global trade in wood and paper products
Graphic paper was a particularly weak segment in the 2023 release. Global graphic-paper production declined 9% during 2023 to 84 million tonnes, the lowest level in the FAO series since 1987. Other paper and paperboard production declined 3%. Graphic paper is a product category within the broader paper-and-paperboard total, so the decline does not describe every paper grade.
| Indicator | Measurement | Period | Geography |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper and paperboard production | 423 million tonnes | 2024 | World |
| Paper and paperboard exports | 112 million tonnes | 2024 | World |
| Paper and paperboard production | 401 million tonnes | 2023 | World |
| Graphic-paper production | 84 million tonnes | 2023 | World |
Production is concentrated among a few major countries. China accounted for 34% of global paper and paperboard production in 2024, the United States accounted for 14% and India accounted for 6%. FAO displays these country shares as rounded values. FAO, Data | Forest Products Statistics
Regional industry scale
Cepi’s 2023 profile describes the European pulp, paper and board industry represented by about 480 producing companies. Those companies represented 90% of European pulp and paper production, an association coverage estimate rather than a census of every producer. The industry provided an estimated 175,000 direct jobs, generated an estimated €100 billion in turnover and added an estimated €20 billion to EU GDP. Turnover is not the same measure as profit or value added, and the GDP-contribution definition is not expanded in the source summary.
Paper and board production from Cepi member countries exported 21% of output in 2023. The broader Cepi structure series counted 662 paper-industry companies, 856 mills, 140 pulp mills, 716 paper-and-board mills and 1,173 paper machines. Company counts are not mill counts, and machine counts describe capacity infrastructure rather than production volume.
| European structure indicator | 2023 count | Change from 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| Companies | 662 | -9.1% |
| Mills | 856 | -13.9% |
| Pulp mills | 140 | -18.6% |
| Paper-and-board mills | 716 | -12.9% |
| Paper machines | 1,173 | -16.0% |
Compared with 2022, the 2023 counts were down 0.3% for companies, 0.9% for mills, 2.1% for pulp mills, 0.7% for paper-and-board mills and 2.3% for paper machines. Cepi, Key Statistics 2023
U.S. capacity and product mix
The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) estimated U.S. paper and paperboard capacity at 79.7 million short tons in 2023, down 1.6% from 2022. Capacity means potential output when equipment, materials, labor and demand are fully available. AF&PA said its survey covered about 89% of industry capacity, with estimates completing the set, so this is an industry capacity estimate rather than a complete direct census.
Capacity declined at an average rate of 0.9% per year from 2014 through 2023. U.S. paper and paperboard production declined 7.2% in 2023, with production falling across categories except tissue, according to AF&PA. AF&PA, AF&PA Details U.S. Paper Production and Capacity Trends
Packaging-related capacity remained an important part of the mix. Four U.S. machines added 2.1 million tons of containerboard and packaging-paper capacity in 2023, and those four additions used 100% recycled fiber. These were capacity additions, not necessarily realized production. At the same time, more than 1.7 million tons of U.S. paper capacity were permanently removed in 2023; AF&PA said most of the removed capacity used wood fiber.
Containerboard capacity declined 0.7% in 2023. The category had grown for 11 consecutive years from 2011 through 2021, averaging 1.6% annual growth during that period. Containerboard represented more than half of total U.S. paper and paperboard capacity from 2021 onward. The capacity trend therefore combines contraction in the overall base with continued strategic weight for packaging grades.
U.S. paper in municipal waste
EPA’s paper-and-paperboard figures describe U.S. municipal solid waste (MSW), not all paper manufactured or consumed in the economy. The agency estimated 67.39 million U.S. tons of paper and paperboard MSW generation in 2018, equal to 23.1% of total U.S. MSW generation. EPA used AF&PA statistics to estimate post-consumer generation.
The long-run series shows a larger waste stream than in the early years of measurement: paper and paperboard generation rose from 29.99 million tons in 1960 to 67.39 million tons in 2018. Product definitions and waste-accounting methods can change over such a long period, so the endpoints are best read as observations in a historical series rather than a perfectly uniform product definition.
Paper’s waste profile varies substantially by product class. In 2018, EPA estimated a 43.1% recycling rate for nondurable paper goods excluding newspapers and a 64.8% rate for newspapers. Paper containers and packaging excluding corrugated boxes had a 20.8% rate, while corrugated boxes reached 96.5%. These categories should not be combined: corrugated boxes are reported separately from other paper containers and packaging. EPA, Paper and Paperboard: Material-Specific Data
Recycling and disposal outcomes
EPA estimated approximately 46 million tons of U.S. paper and paperboard recycling in 2018, using a table value of 45.97 million tons. The resulting paper-and-paperboard MSW recycling rate was 68.2%, the highest recycling rate among the MSW materials in EPA’s 2018 comparison. This rate applies to the defined paper-and-paperboard MSW stream, not to every paper product made or sold.
The disposal pathways were also quantified. Paper and paperboard combustion with energy recovery was estimated at 4.2 million tons in 2018; this excludes ordinary combustion without energy recovery. Landfilling was estimated at 17.22 million tons, representing 11.8% of U.S. MSW landfilled. The landfill share refers to the landfill stream, not the share of paper generated.
Over the longer EPA series, paper and paperboard recycling increased from 5.08 million tons in 1960 to 45.97 million tons in 2018. Landfilling fell from 43.57 million tons in 1990 to 17.22 million tons in 2018. These trends describe the defined U.S. MSW paper stream and should not be interpreted as global recycling or as a balance sheet for all industrial paper flows. EPA, Paper and Paperboard: Material-Specific Data
Recovered fiber and circularity
Cepi’s European recycling indicators use a different boundary from EPA’s U.S. MSW statistics. For the recycling section, Cepi defines Europe as the EU-27 plus Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Its 2023 paper recycling rate was 79.3%, calculated using utilization plus net trade of paper for recycling relative to paper-and-board consumption. Cepi also reported a three-year moving-average rate of 74.4% in 2023.
Cepi warned that unusually low apparent consumption and uncounted stocks can make the single-year 2023 rate exceptionally high. The moving average smooths annual variation and is not interchangeable with the single-year rate. Both are derived indicators, not direct counts of every paper item recovered.
The underlying recovered-fiber flows provide additional context. Cepi companies used 52.5 million tonnes of recovered paper in 2022, compared with 48.7 million tonnes collected. A separate report utilization series labels 47.4 million tonnes used by Cepi paper mills in 2022; the chart definition distinguishes this utilization series from collection, so the measures should not be treated as duplicates.
Recovered-paper trade was strongly regional in 2023. Cepi countries exported 9.418 million tonnes of paper for recycling, up 33.0% from 2022. Asia received 8.314 million tonnes, or 88.3% of those Cepi exports. Cepi countries imported 1.807 million tonnes, down 11.3% from 2022. Other Europe supplied 1.524 million tonnes, or 84.3% of imports, while North America supplied 250 thousand tonnes, or 13.9%. These flows cover paper for recycling, not all paper trade. Cepi, Key Statistics 2023
Taken together, the available indicators show an industry with very different measures of scale: global production is measured in hundreds of millions of tonnes, U.S. manufacturing capacity in short tons, and waste outcomes in a defined post-consumer MSW stream. Regional mill and machine counts, recycled-fiber use and trade flows add structural detail, but each remains tied to its own geography, definition and measurement period.