Al-Pac announces Dec. 1 pulp price decreases for North America of US$20/tonne for hardwood, US$30/tonne for softwood

Diane Keaton

LOS ANGELES , December 2, 2011 (Forestweb) – Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac) today announced list prices for North America, effective Dec. 1.

It said its aspen-grade northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK) pulp price is down by US$20 per tonne, to $715/tonne, and that its northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp price is a decrease of $30/tonne, to $890/tonne.

The NBSK plan is the same as previously announced by several major producers.

Al-Pac’s NBHK announcement is the only known formal Dec. 1 plan for North America by a bleached hardwood kraft pulp (BHKP) producer. (Another North American NBHK producer is said to be expecting an effective December list price of $700/tonne.)

During the months-long ongoing price slide, BHKP producers have not been making formal list price announcements; Al-Pac’s last announcement was for September, when it said its price of $820/tonne was unchanged.

Today’s announcement indicates that Al-Pac’s November list price was $735/tonne. This is close to the RISI Inc. November NBHK price of $730/tonne, which was $45/tonne below its October price of $775/tonne price.

Al-Pac, located in Boyle, Alberta, has a capacity of about 650,000 tonnes/year, of which about 90% is NBHK.

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