Packaging Corp. of America (PKG) FY2025 results: revenue $9.0 billion, up 7.2% on the year

Packaging Corporation of America is the third largest producer of containerboard products in North America and a producer of uncoated freesheet paper. It runs ten mills and 91 corrugated products plants and related facilities, is headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois and operates in the United States. There are three reportable segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. On 2 September 2025 it completed the acquisition of the containerboard business of Greif, which brought two containerboard mills with approximately 800,000 tons of capacity and eight sheet feeder and corrugated plants.

Packaging

The containerboard mills make linerboard and corrugating medium, the papers used to make corrugated products, and total annual containerboard capacity was approximately 5.8 million tons at 31 December 2025. The corrugated plants make shipping containers, multi-colour boxes and retail displays and honeycomb protective packaging, and the company is a large producer of packaging for meat, fresh produce, processed food, beverages and other industrial and consumer products. In 2025 the segment produced 5.2 million tons of containerboard and sold 71 billion square feet of corrugated products. Mills run at Counce in Tennessee, DeRidder in Louisiana, Filer City in Michigan, Jackson in Alabama, Tomahawk in Wisconsin, Valdosta in Georgia and Wallula in Washington, with Massillon in Ohio and Riverville in Virginia added through the Greif deal. In the fourth quarter of 2025 the company announced the permanent shutdown of the No. 2 paper machine and kraft pulping facilities at Wallula, completed in the first quarter of 2026, while the No. 3 machine and recycled pulping there keep running.

The plant network

Of the 91 manufacturing facilities, 56 are combining operations, called corrugated plants, which make sheets and finished packaging, 28 are sheet plants, which buy in combined sheets and make finished packaging, and seven make sheets only. There is also a technical and development centre, six regional design centres, a rotogravure printing operation and packaging supplies and distribution centres. Plants sit close to customers to hold down freight, each serving a radius of approximately 150 miles, and sheet plants sit near the larger corrugated plants so the company can offer small volume and quick turnaround work.

Fibre and selling

Fibre is the largest raw material cost in containerboard, and the mills consume virgin wood and recycled fibre, all from renewable resources, with the system able to shift part of its consumption between softwood, hardwood and recycled sources. The corrugated plants generate recycled fibre as a by-product that the mills then consume, and recycled fibre net of internal generation was 22% of containerboard production in 2025. Wood fibre is procured through leases of cutting rights, long-term supply agreements and market purchases. Corrugated products are sold directly through local sales teams at most plants and national account managers for larger customers, supported by design and structural engineers. Containerboard moves by rail or truck, corrugated products by truck. The company sells to approximately 12,000 customers in approximately 27,000 locations, with about 70% of corrugated sales to regional and local accounts.

Paper

One paper mill at International Falls, Minnesota runs two machines with capacity of approximately 500,000 tons a year, making commodity and specialty papers, including cut-size office papers and printing and converting papers. The segment has about 50 customers in approximately 180 locations, among them office products distributors and retailers, paper merchants and envelope and other converters. Its largest customer is The ODP Corporation, formerly Office Depot, and an amended agreement effective 1 March 2025 runs supply of office papers to 31 December 2026, after which, absent renewal, the purchase obligation phases down over two years from 1 January 2027. ODP was 58% of Paper segment sales and 4% of consolidated sales in 2025.

Competition and people

Industry sources put the number of United States corrugated producers at about 370, operating approximately 1,080 plants, and competition turns on quality, service, price and product design. Because producers generally sell within 150 miles of a plant, competition is largely regional, and the main national competitors are International Paper, Smurfit WestRock, Georgia-Pacific and Pratt Industries. At 31 December 2025 the company had approximately 16,800 employees, 4,600 salaried and 12,200 hourly, with approximately 57% of hourly employees working under collective bargaining agreements and no work stoppages during the year.

From Packaging Corporation of America's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025. The filing

Written from the 10-K filed 26 February 2026: read the full 10-K.