During the first days of July, producers and buyers were still mostly in the midst of negotiating pulp prices for June. One Scandinavian pulp producer, though, has already agreed to lower northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp prices. As this issue of EUWID Pulp and Paper went to press, it was unclear whether a price reduction would be implemented throughout the market. Eucalyptus pulp prices were also being hotly debated in early July. Buyers were pushing here for significant price cuts, a move that took suppliers by surprise. Contrary to expectations, it now seems that prices for northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp will be headed downwards in June contracts, as players from both sides of the market revealed in early July. Pulp buyers and converters are looking to achieve a reduction of $20 or more and have already had some success. One Scandinavian NBSK producer reported having lowered prices and signed the majority of his June contracts at a price of $840/t, which equates to a cut of $20/t from the previous month's level. "The market has cooled down and there is not much we can do to counter this," the respondent said. However, the producer added that he was not willing to accept further downward steps in the still-pending negotiations. On the other hand, there were also converters who said in early July they had signed all their contracts for June with unchanged prices of $850/t.
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