Woodpulp port stocks in Europe drop an estimated 6.7% in September over August, rise 3.7% year-over-year: Europulp

Diane Keaton

LOS ANGELES , October 19, 2013 (Industry Intelligence) – European woodpulp port stocks fell an estimated 82,131 tonnes in September over August, or 6.7%, to 1,145,663 tonnes, according to Europulp data released today.

This is the fourth month in a row in which inventories surpassed 1 million tonnes.

Compared to September 2012, the September 2013 stocks grew an estimated 40,704 tonnes, or 3.7%.

The figures are less than certain because Europulp has estimated the September 2013 stocks for France and the U.K.

(For August, Europulp estimated the stocks for Belgium, the U.K., and Italy, but the report it released today shows no changes from its month-ago estimates for those countries.)

Following are the country-by-country September 2013 figures, in tonnes, including the estimations: (respective September-over-August and year-over-year percentages in parentheses): Netherlands/Belgium — 527,624 (-0.5%; 10.1%); France — 136,547 (-4.6%; 49.3%), U.K. — 40,719 (-1.7%; -9.1%); Germany — 150,567 (10.8%; -6.1%); Switzerland — 7,096 (11.7%; 39.2%); Italy — 248,026 (-23.0%; -12.4%); Spain — 35,084 (-27.8%; -14.9%).

Stats perspective. Inventories were below 1 million tonnes in May 2013 (986,027 tonnes), March 2013 (971,897 tonnes), February 2013 (966,502), and three months in 2012, including November (920,856 tonnes, October (980,455 tonnes), and June (912,478 tonnes). June 2012’s figure marked the first time inventories had fallen below 1 million tonnes since 2010 and all of the monthly stocks in 2011 were above 1 million tonnes before declining overall in 2012.

September 2011’s 1,460,219 tonnes marked the first time since April 2009 that stocks had surpassed 1.4 million tonnes, and in October, November, and December of 2011 they were in the high 1.3 million tonne range, before falling to 1.2 million tonnes in January 2012.

Data background. Europulp figures describe stocks by location, but the numbers are already included in producer and consumer inventory data.

Europulp represents the associations of pulp sellers in Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.K. Europulp began including Spanish port stocks in its data in 2004, but its historical statistics for Spain revert back to January 2003. When Europulp began reporting statistics in 1999, it included only the Netherlands/Belgium, France, and the U.K.; the other countries have been added over the years.

As a result, it is not possible to accurately compare current data with previous years. That said, in the years since statistics became available in 1999, September port stocks, compared to those in August, have fallen in 12 of the previous 14 years. This is the opposite of the August-over-July pattern, in which stocks rose in 12 of the previous 14 years.

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