Pulp price developments in April still not discernible

摘要

At the end of week 17 it was not yet clear where the development of pulp prices would end in Ap ril. However, as demand continued to be rather poor and producer and converter stocks were well-filled, industry experts expected prices to decline further. Commenting on the price situation in the mar ket for northern bleached softwood sulphate pulp in April, one NBSK producer said that they had not yet started their talks at all, and that their negotiations would not begin before week 18. Thus far, not much change has been observable due to the Easter holidays and break, and since 1 May is another bank holiday, the fixing of April prices might well be further delayed. However, with respect to the level of prices it is expected that manufacturers will once again be challenged by converters. The producer added that now as before, too much pulp was flooding the market, and paper mills could make use of attractive spot offers. As a result, there was reason to expect that the price level would decline once again in April, the producer said, although it was not yet clear to what extent.