Paper and Board Products
Pulp becomes paper and board in hundreds of grades. What separates them is not the raw material alone but what each grade has to do: carry a load, take an image, feel soft, or keep a liquid in. This page describes the main product families, the pulp furnish each is built from, and the property that decides whether a grade works.
Segments at a glance
| Segment | Main fibre input | Key property |
|---|---|---|
| Containerboard | UKP, OCC, NSSC fluting | Box compression strength |
| Cartonboard | BCTMP, bleached kraft, WLC | Stiffness, printability |
| Liquid packaging board | Bleached kraft, CTMP | Purity, barrier base |
| Tissue and hygiene | BEKP, NBSK, fluff, DIP | Softness, absorbency |
| Newsprint | TMP, DIP | Low cost, runnability |
| Magazine papers | TMP/GW with fillers | Print gloss, opacity |
| Printing and writing papers | BHKP/BEKP with BSKP | Surface, brightness |
| Specialty papers | Varies by grade | Set by the technical use |
The fibre inputs are the pulp grades described on pulp grades, and are the typical furnish rather than an exhaustive recipe: most machines run a blend, and the proportions vary by producer and by product within a segment.
Packaging grades
Packaging is built for mechanical performance, so its grades are specified by strength rather than by appearance.
- Containerboard: the liners and fluting that become corrugated boxes. Kraftliner is virgin-fibre linerboard for strength and moisture resistance; testliner is its recycled counterpart; fluting (corrugating medium) forms the wave in between, classically from NSSC semi-chemical pulp. The property that matters is box compression strength, which is why virgin long fibre keeps a place in a grade otherwise dominated by recovered fibre.
- Cartonboard (boxboard): multi-ply board for folding cartons, made in three main families: FBB (folding boxboard), SBS (solid bleached sulphate) and WLC (recycled white-lined chipboard). Multi-ply construction is what lets a carton be stiff and printable at once, with a bulky middle layer between smoother outer plies.
- Liquid packaging board: the high-spec board in beverage cartons, a premium segment dominated by few producers. It carries the strictest purity requirements of any packaging grade, because it is the base for a barrier that holds food and drink.
- Sack and kraft papers: cement sacks, carrier bags, greaseproof and other specialty kraft grades, where tear resistance and porosity are specified rather than print quality.
Tissue and hygiene
Toilet tissue, kitchen towel, napkins and the fluff-pulp cores of diapers and incontinence products. The properties that define the segment are softness and absorbency, which is why the furnish leans on short hardwood fibre for feel and long softwood fibre for wet strength, with deinked pulp used where the grade allows.
Tissue is made close to its market. Only 9.9 percent of world tissue production was exported in 2024, the lowest ratio of any major paper grade, against 26.4 percent for all paper and board: the product is bulky and light, so transport costs eat margins quickly.
Graphic papers
Graphic grades are specified by what happens when ink meets the surface: gloss, opacity, and how the sheet runs through a press.
- Newsprint: the classic mechanical and recycled grade, built for low cost and runnability rather than permanence.
- Magazine papers (LWC/SC): lightweight coated and supercalendered grades for magazines, catalogues and advertising, where a smooth surface at low grammage is the whole point.
- Uncoated woodfree (office paper) and coated fine paper for books and commercial print, made from chemical pulp rather than mechanical, which is what gives them brightness and permanence.
Specialty papers
Filter papers, décor paper for laminates, thermal and label papers, wallpaper base and other technical grades: small volumes, high margins, dedicated machines. Each is specified by a technical function rather than by a printing or packaging property, and the furnish follows from that function.
What the mix says about a mill
A mill's product mix is the best single predictor of what it will do next, because grades move in different directions. Packaging and tissue have grown with e-commerce and living standards, while graphic papers have shrunk with digitalisation: world production of containerboard rose 103 percent between 2000 and 2024 and tissue 93 percent, while newsprint fell 73 percent from its 2004 peak and graphic papers overall 39 percent, against 30 percent growth for all paper and board.
That is why many of the most consequential events in the database are conversions rather than closures: newsprint and fine-paper machines rebuilt to produce containerboard or dissolving pulp. See recent conversions
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between kraftliner and testliner?
Both are linerboard, the flat outer layers of corrugated board. Kraftliner is made from virgin fibre for strength and moisture resistance; testliner is its recycled counterpart.
Why are newsprint mills closing or converting?
World newsprint production has fallen 73 percent from its 2004 peak of 39.6 million tonnes to 10.6 million tonnes in 2024. Many machines have been rebuilt for containerboard, where production has doubled: the conversions are tracked in our mill database.
Why does tissue production stay close to its market?
Tissue is bulky and light, so transport costs eat margins quickly. Only 9.9 percent of world tissue production was exported in 2024, the lowest export ratio of any major grade, and a large part of what does cross borders is parent rolls for local converting rather than finished product.
Which pulp grade goes into which paper?
The table above gives the typical furnish per segment, and pulp grades describes each pulp grade and what it contributes.
Sources4 references
World production and trade
- FAO, FAOSTAT Forestry Production and Trade (domain FO). Production and exports by Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire grade, world totals 2000 to 2024: https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FO
- Newsprint is measured from its 2004 peak. Measured from their 2007 peak instead of from 2000, graphic papers overall fell 45 percent and printing and writing papers 36 percent. Liquid packaging board is not separately reported in the world production statistics
European short-term statistics
- Cepi, *Preliminary Statistics 2025*. European short-term development by segment: containerboard +1.7 percent, cartonboard −5.6 percent, tissue −0.8 percent and graphic grades −7.2 percent, 2025 against 2024
Tissue trade
- RISI/Fastmarkets tissue statistics. Parent rolls are about 35 percent of internationally traded tissue