Al-Pac announces Oct. 1 global price increases, bringing aspen-grade hardwood pulp to US$750/tonne in North America and US$620/tonne in China, NBSK to US$850/tonne in North America and US$660/tonne in China

Diane Keaton

LOS ANGELES , September 29, 2012 (Industry Intelligence Inc.) – Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac) has announced global Oct. 1 pulp price increases for North America and Asia.

In its announcement, made Sept. 28, Al-Pac said the increases are for both its aspen-grade northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK) and its northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK).

Al-Pac’s new aspen-grade pulp prices will be US$750/tonne in North America and $620/tonne in China.

Its NBSK prices will be $850/tonne in North America and $660/tonne in China.

Al-Pac did not specify the amount of the increases for either aspen or NBSK. But its new NBSK prices are the same as those announced recently by several major players for North America and China, all up $20/tonne.

Al-Pac is the only hardwood pulp producers known to have made an announcement for October. Late this week, RISI Inc. said the September NBHK price in North America was $735/tonne, which for aspen-grade was down $30/tonne from RISI’s August price.

As for China, industry sources have said for a few months that net prices of bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp (BEKP) pulp were around $600/tonne, give or take $10-$20/tonne and that other kinds of hardwood pulp, including that produced in North America, were below that, say, in the high $500s/tonne.

Al-Pac, located in Boyle, Alberta, has a capacity of approximately 650,000 tonnes/year, of which about 90% is NBHK and the rest northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK).

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