You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: We will also present certain non-U.S. GAAP financial information.
A reconciliation of those figures to U.S. GAAP financial measures is available on our website.
Lastly, relative to the Ilim joint venture, slide two provides context around the joint venture's financial information and statistical measures.
We will begin our discussion on slide three.
In the third quarter, International Paper grew revenue, earnings and margins, and we continued to generate strong cash from operations.
We continue to see strong demand for corrugated packaging and solid demand for absorbent pulp.
We're making strong progress on price realization from our prior increases.
Having said that, the supply chain and input cost environment remains very challenging and it impacted our results much more than we anticipated.
The widespread supply chain constraints limited our ability to capture the full opportunity that comes with the strong level of demand that we're seeing.
Our mills performed well.
However, stretched supply chains impacted volume in our Industrial Packaging and Global Cellulose Fibers businesses.
Containerboard inventories in our packaging network improved in the latter part of the third quarter, and we are in a much better position as we enter the seasonally strong fourth quarter.
Input costs in the third quarter rose by about $230 million or $0.46 per share, which was more than 2 times what we had anticipated, with cost pressure in just about every category.
Our Ilim joint venture delivered another strong performance, with equity earnings of $95 million.
On capital allocation, we continue to make significant progress strengthening our balance sheet.
In the third quarter, we reduced debt by $235 million.
I would also highlight that our pension plan is fully funded.
This is a significant milestone that further strengthens the company.
In the third quarter, we also returned $411 million to our shareholders, including $212 million of share repurchases.
On October 1, we completed the spin-off of the Printing Papers business.
IP received a $1.4 billion payment from Sylvamo, and we retained a 19.9% interest in the new company, which we intend to monetize within one year.
The teams did an outstanding job executing the transaction in a very challenging environment.
We are laser-focused on strengthening the company and building a better IP for all of our stakeholders.
Tim and I will share more about the progress we're making during today's discussion.
Turning now to slide four.
We delivered EBITDA of $938 million and free cash flow of $519 million in the third quarter, which brings our free cash flow nearly $1.6 billion year-to-date.
Revenue increased by nearly $600 million or 12% when compared to last year.
And if we exclude the Printing Papers business, third quarter revenue grew by 14% as compared to last year.
We also expanded our margins in the third quarter with realization of our prior price increases.
We expect continued margin expansion in the fourth quarter.
Moving to the quarter-over-quarter earnings bridge on slide five, third quarter operating earnings per share were $1.35 as compared to $1.06 in the second quarter.
Price and mix improved by $0.43 per share, with strong price realization across the three businesses.
Supply chain constraints limited our ability to capture the full benefit of a strong demand backdrop.
We replenished our containerboard inventories in the latter part of the third quarter, which positions us well entering the seasonally strong fourth quarter.
In our cellulose fibers business, demand for absorbent pulp is solid.
Our pulp shipments were constrained due to significant port congestion and our backlogs remain stretched.
Our mills performed well.
Operating costs benefited by about $35 million of onetime items, including the sale of nitrogen credits and insurance recovery related to the winter storm earlier this year.
Supply chains are stretched, and transportation costs are elevated for both inbound materials and outbound shipments.
Every mode of transportation is tight, and we expect the transportation environment to remain tight for the foreseeable future.
Maintenance costs decreased as expected.
Input costs rose by $0.46 per share or about $230 million, which is more than double what we had anticipated for the quarter.
Higher fiber and energy cost accounted for about 80% of this increase.
Corporate expenses were essentially flat.
Tax expense was lower by $0.04 per share in the third quarter, with an effective tax rate of 18% as compared to 21% in the second quarter.
Most of this was related to adjustments to our federal tax provision after finalizing our 2020 tax return in the third quarter.
Equity earnings were lower sequentially following the final monetization of our stake in GPK in the second quarter.
Turning to the segments, I'll start with Industrial Packaging on slide six.
We are seeing strong demand across all channels, including boxes, sheets and containerboard.
Third quarter shipment across our U.S. channels improved by 1.3% year-over-year.
However, box shipments were hampered by low containerboard inventories and stretched supply chains.
We successfully replenished inventories across our box system in the latter part of the third quarter, which puts us in a much better inventory position as we enter the seasonally strong fourth quarter.
We expect supply chains to remain stretched for the foreseeable future, which requires us to carry more inventory given the slower velocity across our network.
To put the velocity into context, our mill-to-box plant containerboard supply chain is currently running three to four days longer than our normalized flow, and in some lanes, even longer.
Taking a look at third quarter performance.
Price and mix was strong.
Our March increase is essentially fully implemented, with $128 million of price realization in the third quarter.
Volume was lower by $45 million.
Box shipments in North America were impacted by low containerboard inventory, especially in the first half of the quarter.
Volume in EMEA was seasonally slower, as expected, representing about $10 million of the sequential decrease.
Operations and costs were essentially flat sequentially.
Our mill system performed at 100% and provided much needed inventory relief to our box system.
In the third quarter, we also received insurance proceeds of about $15 million related to the winter storm.
These benefits were largely offset by unplanned maintenance costs.
We are not seeing any relief on supply chain costs and are managing risk associated with transportation capacity and congestion across the rail and truck networks.
Input costs increased by nearly $190 million in the quarter.
OCC and wood fiber accounted for $120 million of that total.
Energy accounted for another $45 million, primarily in our recycled containerboard mills and our box plants.
Taking a closer look at fiber, our North American packaging fiber mix is around 65% virgin wood and 35% OCC.
Wood fiber costs rose sharply in the third quarter due to continued wet conditions across the Southern and Eastern regions as well as inbound transportation constraints.
Wood inventories are below our control limits, and we expect difficult operating conditions again in the fourth quarter.
We expect demand for OCC to remain strong, with no cost relief even as generation gradually improves.
As a reminder, we consume about 4.5 million tons annually in the U.S. and nearly 0.5 million tons in EMEA.
Moving to Global Cellulose Fibers on slide seven.
The business delivered earnings of $96 million.
Third quarter segment earnings included $13 million from the Sylvamo subsidiary and the Kwidzyn mill, which are no longer part of our operations in the fourth quarter.
Looking at our sequential earnings, price and mix improved by $59 million.
Volume improved by $11 million sequentially.
Demand for fluff pulp, which represents about 75 of our -- 75% of our mix remained solid.
Our shipments continue to be negatively impacted by unprecedented port congestion and vessel delays.
Keep in mind that we export about 90% of our volume in this business.
The majority of this is fluff pulp that ships in containers which is where port congestion is especially challenging.
We have systems in place to manage through this environment.
However, vessel delays and higher supply chain costs are expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
Our mills performed well.
We also benefited from about $20 million of onetime items related to the sale of nitrogen credits and lower corporate costs in the quarter.
These benefits were largely offset by $50 million of higher supply chain costs for export operations.
Maintenance outage costs decreased sequentially, while input costs were a significant headwind in the third quarter, driven primarily by higher wood and chemical costs.
Turning to Printing Papers on slide eight.
The business delivered earnings of $106 million in the third quarter, with strong momentum ahead of the spinoff.
Third quarter results includes the Kwidzyn mill until the sale on August 6.
Performance in the third quarter was strong with continued demand recovery globally and price realization outpacing rising input costs.
Now that the spin-off is complete, the historical results of the business will be treated as a discontinued operation with a full recast of previous periods.
And going forward, activity pertaining to the Printing Papers offtake agreement for Riverdale and Georgetown will be included in our Packaging and Global Cellulose Fiber segment earnings.
Looking to the Ilim results on slide nine.
The joint venture delivered another quarter of strong performance with equity earnings of $95 million and an EBITDA margin of 44%.
Solid price realization for pulp and container board were partially offset by lower volume due to high planned maintenance outages in the quarter as expected.
Volume in the fourth quarter is expected to improve.
However, shipping capacity remains tight and supply chains to China are stretched.
So now we'll turn to the fourth quarter outlook on slide 10.
In Industrial Packaging, we expect price and mix to improve by $70 million, mostly on the realization of our August 2021 price increase.
That includes a negative mix impact as we start to recover some export backlogs.
Volume is expected to improve by $65 million sequentially on strong seasonal demand even as we cut down free shipping days.
Operations and costs are expected to improve by $5 million, with the North American system benefiting from improved containerboard inventory levels, partly offset by onetime benefits in the third quarter.
Staying with Industrial Packaging, maintenance outage expense is expected to increase by $3 million.
Input costs are expected to increase by $50 million, mostly on the flow-through of higher third quarter input costs for fiber and energy.
In Global Cellulose Fibers, we expect price and mix to be stable.
Volume is expected to decrease by $5 million.
Operations and costs are expected to decrease earnings by $25 million due to the non-repeat of onetime benefits in the third quarter.
Maintenance outage expense is expected to increase by $37 million.
And input costs are expected to increase by $15 million on higher wood and energy costs.
On our outlook slide, we include the sequential earnings adjustment associated with the Printing Papers' spin and Kwidzyn sale for a total of $134 million across the three segments.
With regard to cash flow, I would note that our cash from operations in the second half 2021 includes cash taxes of about $450 million associated with the various monetization transactions from earlier this year.
Remember that the proceeds for these transactions are not captured in our free cash flow.
However, the resulting cash taxes are included in free cash flow and the majority will be paid in the fourth quarter.
Turning to slide 11, I'll take a moment to update you on our capital allocation actions in the third quarter and what you can expect from International Paper following the recent paper spin.
We will maintain a strong balance sheet.
As we previously said, we're comfortable taking our leverage below the stated target of 2.5 times to 2.8 times debt-to-EBITDA on a Moody's basis.
In the third quarter, we reduced debt by $235 million, which brings our year-to-date debt reduction to $1.1 billion.
We will also complete an additional $800 million of debt repayment by the end of this month.
Taking a look at pension, we are very pleased with the performance of our plan this year.
Our qualified pension plan is fully funded, and we feel really good about the actions we've taken to improve performance and derisk the plan.
Returning cash to share owners is a meaningful part of our capital allocation framework.
In the third quarter, we returned $411 million to share owners through dividends and share repurchases.
Share repurchases were $212 million, which represented about 3.6 million shares at an average price of $59.13.
Also earlier this month, the Board of Directors approved an additional $2 billion share repurchase program, which raises our total available authorizations to $3.3 billion.
We will continue to execute on that authorization in a manner that maximizes value for share owners over time.
With regard to the dividend, our policy does not change.
We are committed to a competitive and sustainable dividend, with a payout of 40% to 50% of free cash flow, which we will continue to review annually as earnings and cash flow grow.
Earlier this month, we decreased our dividend by 9.8% to $1.85 per share annually, following the spin-off of the papers business.
This adjustment is well below the 15% to 20% proportion of cash previously generated by the papers business as we outlined when we announced the spin last year.
Investment excellence is essential to growing earnings and cash generation.
We expect Capex in 2021 to be around $600 million, which is less than our original plan, primarily due to the timing of equipment delivery and a more challenging contract labor environment.
We will continue to proactively manage Capex and have the ability to increase or pull back if circumstances warrant.
You can expect strategic capital to be deployed mostly to our packaging business to build up capability and capacity needs to drive profitable growth.
We will continue to assess disciplined and selective M&A opportunities to supplement our goal of accelerating profitable growth.
You can expect M&A to focus primarily on bolt-on opportunities in our packaging business in North America and Europe.
Any potential opportunity we pursue must be compelling value for our shareholders.
I'm on slide 12 now.
Let's talk about the future and how we're going to accelerate value creation for IP and our shareholders.
We are building a better IP.
With the recent spin-off of the papers business, IP is really a corrugated packaging-focused company.
We are significantly less complex with a much narrower geographic footprint.
In addition, we have strengthened the company's financial footing, as Tim has described, significantly over the past few years.
Our focused profile and financial strength will further enable us to make sustainable, profitable growth and accelerate value creation.
As I said earlier in the process, we've been actively working on multiple streams of earnings initiatives over the past year.
We established a dedicated team that's been working closely with our businesses and external partners over the past year to identify, develop and pilot a wide range of highly attractive opportunities which are now moving to scaled implementation.
We will deliver $200 million to $225 million of gross incremental earnings in 2022.
That represents more than 2 times the dis-synergies resulting from the spin-off.
Our value drivers ramp up in '23 and 2024, with net incremental earnings of $350 million to $400 million in 2024.
These include around $300 million in cost reduction initiatives and at least $50 million through commercial and investment initiatives.
Our earnings catalysts are front-loaded, with significant benefits coming in 2022 from streamlining and simplifying the company and scaling a wide range of process optimization initiatives.
Streamlining and simplifying is all about agility and effectiveness.
The organization is being designed to support a packaging-focused company with a more focused footprint.
We are aligning our talent to accelerate performance.
We've also examined our processes to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
We are implementing and scaling new approaches for areas such as sourcing, supply chain and operations by leveraging technology and data analytics.
Let me give you a few examples of these value drivers for 2022.
We redesigned our sourcing process for our 200 converting facilities.
We're using data analytics and third-party partners to deploy an automated catalog of sourcing options for operating and repair materials in our box plants.
This program will deliver meaningful value in 2022.
We're also using data analytics to unlock capacity in our converting facilities by improving our planning and order execution process.
This includes, for example, how we aggregate and plan smaller orders and how we can optimize our manufacturing mix in each plant and each network of plants.
We've also developed a new application to further optimize containerboard replenishment to our box plants.
The system anticipates potential roll inventory stock-ups, which have been a big issue for us this year, and recommends the lowest-cost replenishment option to reduce premium freight.
There are many initiatives that contribute to our value drivers and the savings.
We have really good line of sight on the expected benefits in 2022 and the ramp-up as we move forward.
Our 2022 value drivers not only deliver meaningful benefits in the near term, they are also setting the foundation for IP going forward to accelerate commercial and investment excellence to drive profitable growth.

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q3 adjusted non-gaap operating earnings per share $1.35.
qtrly printing papers operating profits profits were $106 million versus $63 million.

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