Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). Your first question comes from Gail Glazerman – UBS.
Gail Glazerman – UBS
John, I just wanted to dig a little bit more into the demand comments you made where year end to the downturn and it doesn't seem like domestically you're seeing much of an uptick. Now obviously you reflected that in your closure announcements, but I'm just wondering if there are any anecdotes or thoughts that you can give and if you can give us any insight into some of the key businesses? You mentioned Xpedx, but any of the businesses kind of what you're seeing in October relative to kind of September and the third quarter average?
John Faraci
Well, Tom Kadien's here and runs our distribution business. I'll let him talk about Xpedx and he can give you some color on what's happening right now across the segments.
Tom Kadien
We're seeing I'd say a seasonal improvement that's typical on the print side. The year-over-year comps are still pretty disappointing. But as Tim said, our print business got better after probably eight months of almost no activity. We saw an improvement in August over July and then September was again better than August.
I guess on the positive side, our packaging business was up also about 8% in Q3 over Q2, and we are seeing some more quote activity on packaging equipment. I still think it's more of a seasonal improvement than any sort of real recovery. And we're I'd say cautious about the fourth quarter because after Thanksgiving, as John said, it's going to slow down again, particularly the print business.
John Faraci
Carol, do you want to talk about boxes?
Carol Roberts
Sure, I remain cautiously optimistic on packaging demands. From the second to the third quarter there was an increase in nondurable production, which was a good sign and that translated into industry box shipments. We were down a little bit from second to third, but we have a large agricultural position and while we have a very good ag season in the second quarter, it's just seasonally a bit slower for us.
So it's very hard to tell what the fourth quarter will bring because it's such a strange quarter with three less days and traditionally a fairly slow November and December. But September was our strongest month in the quarter. So as the economy recovers, I am confident that packaging demand will recover along with it. It's just a matter of when and how much.
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