Chilean pulp producer Arauco announces Sept. 1 China US$10/tonne price increase for bleached radiata pulp, to US$680/tonne (net); unbleached kraft pulp price to be unchanged at US$640/tonne (net), eucalyptus pulp price also unchanged

Diane Keaton

LOS ANGELES , August 15, 2013 (IndustryIntel) – Chile’s Celulosa Arauco y Constitución SA (Arauco) has announced a US$10/tonne price increase for China for bleached radiata kraft pulp (BRKP), to $680/tonne (net), effective Sept. 1, a company executive confirmed.

Arauco made the announcement on Aug. 15 (China time).

This is the first known pulp price announcement for September. Some northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp producers have indicated that they are likely to try to move up their September prices in China and Europe, and possibly North America.

For September, Arauco is keeping unchanged its unbleached kraft pulp (UKP) price of $640/tonne (net).

Also it said it is not changing its Sept. 1 bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp (BEKP) price.

For August, Arauco had kept its BRKP price flat, at $670/tonne (net) while raising its UKP price $20/tonne, to $640/tonne (net). On July 25, the executive said it had already fixed 100% of its August BRKP and UKP allocations for China at these prices.

He said at the time that Arauco was still negotiating its August price of BEKP.

Arauco has a total capacity of 3.235 million tonnes/year, including 2.885 million tonnes/year at its mills in Chile. Its Alto Paraná mill in Argentina, which has a capacity of 350,000 tonnes/year, can swing to either fluff pulp or BRKP.

The 1.3 million tonnes/year Montes Del Plata pulp mill in Punta Pereira, Uruguay, a 50-50 joint venture between Arauco and Finland’s Stora Enso Oyj, is targeted to begin operating late this year. 

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