West Fraser drops Sept. 1 NBSK pulp list price in North America by US$20/tonne, to US$970/tonne, keeps China list price unchanged at US$830/tonne

Diane Keaton

LOS ANGELES , August 31, 2011 (Forestweb) – West Fraser Timber Co. today announced Sept. 1 northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp list price plans for two major regions.

West Fraser is reducing its North America price of NBSK by US$20/tonne, to $970/tonne, and it is keeping its September NBSK price in China unchanged at $830/tonne.

Also today Canfor Pulp LP announced a $20/tonne NBSK decrease for the U.S., to $970/tonne. Canfor Pulp did not announce for other regions today.

The Canfor Pulp and West Fraser announcements are the first known September pulp announcements for the U.S. for any grade.

Other Canadian producers have been quiet about their September plans for China, but another major softwood pulp producer, Chile’s Celulosa Arauco y Constitución SA, recently announced it was keeping its bleached radiata kraft pulp (BRKP) price unchanged in China at $820/tonne.

Separately, West Fraser increased its Aug. 1 list price in China of bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp (BCTMP) by US$30/tonne, and then other BCTMP producers made such announcements for China and/or Asia.

West Fraser has a combined pulp and paper capacity of 1.1 million tonnes/year, including NBSK and BCTMP.

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