PACKAGING CORP OF AMERICA

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 2024, our total company costs including cost of sales (COS) and selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) was $7.2 billion, and excluding non-cash costs (depreciation, depletion and amortization, pension and postretirement expense, and share-based compensation expense) was $6.6 billion. A 1% increase in COS and SG&A costs would increase costs by $72 million and cash costs by $66 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 2024, 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 2024 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.

In addition, the mills purchased 22.41 million CkWh (hundred kilowatt-hours) of electricity in 2024. The purchases by quarter and the average cost per CkWh were as follows: