Mercer announces November NBSK pulp price of US$700/tonne for China

Diane Keaton

LOS ANGELES , November 2, 2011 (Forestweb) – Northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp producer Mercer International Inc. has announced a November price in China of US$700 per tonne, according to a knowledgeable source.

This is the first known price announcement for China by an NBSK producer.

As reported yesterday, Celulosa Arauco y Constitución SA (Arauco) in Chile has priced its bleached radiata kraft pulp (BRKP) in China at $670/tonne (net).

And as reported on Oct. 25, Ilim Group in Russia decreased its bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSKP) November price in China by US$80 per tonne, to $710/tonne CFR port (cost and freight).

BSKP producers started out October with unchanged list prices in the low $800s/tonne (NBSK commodity was at $830/tonne, BRKP was at $820/tonne), with very little business to show for it. Sources said that as the month of October wore on, the BRKP price fell to the mid-$700s/tonne. At least one commodity NBSK producer, Domtar Corp., eventually set an October price of $780/tonne (down $50/tonne), but sources said Chinese BSKP customers were demanding prices of around $700/tonne or less.

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based Mercer produces NBSK exclusively and has a total capacity of approximately 1.5 million tonnes/year at mills located near Castlegar (the Celgar mill), British Columbia, near Stendal, Germany, and near Blankenstein, Germany.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.