SIC 2679
CONVERTED PAPER AND PAPERBOARD PRODUCTS, NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED



Establishments in this category are primarily engaged in manufacturing miscellaneous converted paper or paperboard products, not elsewhere classified, from purchased paper or paperboard. Products in this classification include gift wrap, pressed and molded pulp goods, laminated building papers, fiber conduits, crepe paper, pressed and molded pulp cups, pressed and molded dishes, molded pulp egg cartons, and converted filter paper.

NAICS Code(s)

322215 (Non-Folding Sanitary Food Container Manufacturing)

322222 (Coated and Laminated Paper Manufacturing)

322231 (Die-Cut Paper and Paperboard Office Supplies Manufacturing)

322298 (All Other Converted Paper Product Manufacturing)

Note: The U.S. Economic Census now reports industrial information under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) instead of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. As a result, the value of shipments data reported below is for NAICS 322299 (the replacement for SIC 2679 ), and it includes only a portion of what used to be reported for SIC 2679. For example, the 1995 value of shipments for SIC 2679 was reported at $5.16 billion; in 1997, the value of shipments for NAICS 322299 was reported at $4 billion. NAICS 322299 also includes portions of the following SIC industries: SIC 2675: Die-Cut Paper and Paperboard and Cardboard and SIC 3999: Manufacturing Industries, NEC.

The paper products in this classification are best described as specialty products because of their diversity. In 2001, this industry had a value of shipments of $3.7 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The largest product category in this industry is "other converted paper and paperboard products," accounting for three billion dollars (81 percent) of the value of industry shipments in 2001. This category includes such diverse products as paper party and holiday goods; cellulose insulation/paper doilies/placemats; paper filters and "other" paper wrapping products; and "other" die-cut paper and paperboard products.

The next largest category is molded pulp goods, including egg cartons, florist pots, and food trays. This segment accounted for $435 million of the value of shipments in 2001. All other products accounted for the remainder of the total.

The total value of raw materials used in converted paper and paperboard products not elsewhere classified in 2000 amounted to $2.4 billion. Of this total, paper and paperboard was the largest raw material category. Other leading raw material categories include recovered paper; paperboard containers, boxes, and corrugated paperboard; plastics; and glues and printing inks. The "all other materials" and raw materials not specified by kind (NSK) categories accounted for a rather large portion of the total.

Paper mills have traditionally been the largest supplier to this industry, providing almost 30 percent of its raw materials. Imports accounted for the next-largest volume, at 21 percent; followed by wholesale trade with 9.2 percent; paperboard mills with 6.6 percent; and plastics materials and resins with 2.5 percent.

SIC 2679 Converted Paper and Paperboard Products, Not Elsewhere Classified

Personal consumption expenditures accounted for the largest share of purchases from the industry, at close to 30 percent of the total. The wholesale trades were the next largest customer, with 11 percent of total purchases.

Trends for this industry are highly product-specific. Gift wrap continued to grow with the general economy, despite admonitions by environmental groups for consumers to reduce or eliminate the use of gift wrap. Sales of gift paper are directly related to the level of gift purchasing in the United States. After several mediocre years during the recession in the early 1990s, gift paper enjoyed an upward sales trend through the remainder of the 1990s as gift buying—particularly during the key Christmas period—accelerated along with the general economy. After growing from $398 million in 1999 to $408 million in 2000, however, the value of gift wrap paper shipments declined to $376 million in 2001, reflecting reduced consumer spending as the U.S. economy continued to weaken.

Molded pulp products—primarily egg cartons—enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s due to public interest in recycling. These gray cartons, often made of recycled newsprint, lost share in the 1980s to molded plastic products. But as consumers began to express some displeasure with hard-to-recycle plastic cartons, some egg producers responded by moving back to molded pulp products. Schools and fast food outlets also stepped up their use of molded food trays in the 1990s. As with gift wrap paper, however, molded pulp shipments began to wane after peaking in 1999 at $519.9 million. The value of these shipments declined to $3.33 billion in 2000 and to $3.05 billion in 2001.

The converted paper products not elsewhere classified industry employed 24,230 people in 2000. Of that total, 19,317 were production workers, earning an average hourly wage of $12.89 and working 38.5 million hours.

Further Reading

U.S. Census Bureau. "Statistics for Industry Groups and Industries: 2000." February 2002. Available from http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/m00as-1.pdf .

——. "Value of Shipment for Product Classes: 2001 and Earlier Years." December 2002. Available from http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/m01as-2.pdf .

U.S. Trade and Industrial Outlook 2000. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999.

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