April 22 (Reuters) - Packaging Corp of America ( PKG )

beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue on Monday,

boosted by higher prices, improved production and a recovery in

demand for its corrugated packaging products.

Paper and packaging companies benefited from a surge in

sales of goods and e-commerce retail during the pandemic, but

their fortunes faded with economies reopening, leading to a

year-long slowdown in demand.

However, sales volumes are starting to grow again this year

as production and shipments improve, with European paper

packaging giant Smurfit Kappa in February saying the

worst of the demand slump appeared to be over.

Packaging Corp of America ( PKG ), which supplies packaging for a

variety of industries including food and beverages, retail trade

and chemical products, said its packaging segment saw shipments

per day rise 11%, with corrugated products shipments seeing a

9.2% jump.

Lake Forest, Illinois-based Packaging Corp is also

benefiting from a round of price increases it rolled out in

January. The company said that it began implementing a price

increase of $100 per ton across all paper grades effective April

1.

For the second quarter, the company expects earnings of

$2.07 per share.

The company said that it expects rail rate increases during

the first and second quarter to result in higher freight and

logistics expenses.

Net sales at the company rose to $1.98 billion in the first

quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of $1.91 billion,

according to LSEG data.

Adjusted net income in the three months ended March 31 fell

to $1.72 per share from $2.20 a year earlier, but exceeded

analysts' expectations of $1.68 per share.