Forecast increase in titanium dioxide costs set to offset reduction in pulp prices

摘要

Price trends in upstream products used to make decor paper have now reversed course. Eucalyptus pulp prices have dipped again slightly since November after a long period of rising prices that decor paper producers said that they were only partly able to pass on to decor paper prices. Pulp prices dropped by about $40/t or almost 5% by January. By contrast, titanium dioxide manufacturers announced the first price increases in a while of about €150/t at the end of December in order to at least partly offset falling prices over the past two years. Mark-ups that were typically sought at the end of December for shipments from the start of the first quarter were not instituted at first. However, prices carried forward from the fourth quarter were sometimes only set in stone until the end of February. Titanium dioxide manufacturers will likely push for higher prices more emphatically in the next rounds of negotiations for deliveries from the start of March or April.