North American Industrial Project Spending Index up 23.9% in November

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Industrial Info's North American Industrial Project Spending Index, which measures the value of active projects in the pipeline for the year, registered a 23.9% increase in November. The index totaled $307 billion, up more than $59 billion from the total in November 2017.

The Project Spending Index is a monthly indicator that compares planned industrial project spending for the current year to the previous year in order to get a measure of growth or contraction in the industrial market. The index provides spending details by industry and market region, including monthly updates that measure the rate of activity from this year to last year during the same month. The November spending index registered gains in all but two (Chemical Processing and Alternative Fuels) of the 12 industries tracked by Industrial Info.

Click on the image at right for a graph showing the November spending index.

One of the industries that has shown positive year-over-year numbers for each month in 2018 is the Pulp, Paper & Wood Industry. The November Spending Index showed $8.7 billion for the industry, up nearly $2.7 billion, or 43.9%, from the index in November 2017.

The Pulp, Paper & Wood Industry comprises assets owned by enterprises engaged in the manufacture and distribution of products derived from wood fiber and recycled wood fiber-based products. The industry is categorized into four sub-sectors, which are Pulp, Paper, Wood and Converting. In addition to traditional wood and paper products, the industry is increasingly becoming a major producer of bio-chemicals and biofuels.

Industrial Info is tracking $5.6 billion in North American Pulp, Paper and Wood project activity that is now in the construction stage. The three top projects in total investment value include:

• WestRock Company's (NYSE:WRK) (Atlanta, Georgia) $410 million efficiency upgrade at the Florence Pulp and Paper Mill in Florence, South Carolina. The project, which currently is expected to be completed in first-quarter 2020, includes the addition of a new 710,000-ton-per-year kraft linerboard paper machine and the decommissioning and dismantlement of three existing paper machines; see project report.
• Arauco North America's (Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario) $400 million grassroot particleboard mill in Grayling, Michigan. Once complete, the particleboard plant will be the largest "continuous" single-line particleboard press in North America at 52 meters (170 feet), according to the company. There are larger producing plants, but they have multiple lines; see project report.
• J.D. Irving Limited's (Saint John, New Brunswick) $400 million tissue mill in Macon, Georgia. The company said the project will allow it to double its through-air drying capacity, increasing it by 75,000 tonnes, the equivalent of 15 million cases. CR Meyer (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) is the general contractor for the project, which currently is expected to be completed in second-quarter 2019; see project report.

Industrial Info's North American Construction Starts index, which measures the amount of project activity that has been funded and started construction this year across 12 industries in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, for November amounted to 11,909 projects worth nearly $258 billion, up from 10,361 projects valued at nearly $219 billion in November 2017.

Click on the image at right for the North American Construction Starts Index for November.



Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.