US pulp market mostly holds, as competition among hardwood producers heats up; fluff shoots up $25/tonne

摘要

North American market pulp producers saw May as a stand-by period in which softwood supply was low enough to prevent pricing erosion and hardwood producers mostly held onto flat prices despite a continued overhang in mill inventories and continued erosion in Asian markets, contacts told PPI Pulp & Paper Week. Northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) effective list prices held at $l,030/tonne for the third straight month as fluff pulp-which market participants said remained in shorter supply than paper grade softwood-rose above NBSK for the first time in a year. Southern bleached softwood kraft (SBSK), meantime, was flat, at $990.