We are subject to both contractual, inflation, and other general cost increases. If we are unable to offset these cost increases by price increases, growth, and/or cost reductions in our operations, these inflation and other general cost increases could have a material adverse effect on our operating cash flows, profitability, and liquidity. We continuously seek opportunities to increase the efficiency of our mills and corrugated products facilities and make extensive capital investments to minimize the impact that inflation has on our cost structure.
In 2025, our total company costs including cost of sales (COS) and selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) was $7.7 billion, and excluding non-cash costs (depreciation, depletion and amortization, pension and postretirement expense, and share-based compensation expense) was $7.0 billion. A 1% increase in COS and SG&A costs would increase costs by $77 million and cash costs by $70 million.
Certain items of product input costs have historically been subject to more cost volatility including fiber, purchased energy, and chemicals.
Energy
Our mills represent about 90% of our total purchased fuel costs. In 2025, our Packaging and Paper mills consumed about 101 million MMBTUs of fuel, including internally generated and externally purchased, to produce both steam and electricity. The following table for 2025 provides the total MMBTUs purchased externally by fuel type each quarter and the average cost per MMBTU by fuel type for the year. The cost per MMBTU includes the cost of the fuel plus our transportation and delivery costs.
2025 Fuel Purchased (millions of MMBTUs)
2025 Avg.
Fuel Type
First
Quarter
Second
Quarter
Third
Quarter
Fourth
Quarter
Full
Year
Cost /
MMBTU
Natural gas
8.1
6.5
6.2
7.7
28.5
$
4.28
Purchased bark
1.6
1.9
2.1
2.3
7.9
2.46
Other purchased fuels
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.4
5.12
Total mills
9.8
8.5
8.4
10.1
36.8
$
3.90
In addition, the mills purchased 23.97 million CkWh (hundred kilowatt-hours) of electricity in 2025. The purchases by quarter and the average cost per CkWh were as follows:
2025 Purchased Electricity (millions of CkWh)
2025 Avg.
First
Quarter
Second
Quarter
Third
Quarter
Fourth
Quarter
Full
Year
Cost /
CkWh
Purchased electricity
5.6
5.6
6.1
6.7
24.0
$
7.34