Domtar raising Nov. 1 softwood pulp prices for North America by US$20/tonne, to US$990/tonne for NBSK, US$950/tonne for SBSK

Diane Keaton

LOS ANGELES , October 24, 2013 (Industry Intelligence) – Domtar Corp. today told customers that it will raise its Nov. 1 bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSKP) list prices in North America by US$20/tonne, to $990/tonne for northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) and $950/tonne for southern bleached softwood kraft (SBSK).

This is the second known Nov. 1 price hike announcement for North America. First out was Resolute Forest Products Inc., which announced the same plan yesterday.

Several NBSK producers, including Mercer International Inc., followed by Catalyst Paper Corp. and Nanaimo Forest Products Ltd. (Harmac Pacific) have announced Nov. 1 $20/tonne hikes for China, according to industry sources. Mercer’s new list price for commodity NBSK will be $740/tonne. Also Chilean and Russian producers are planning $20/tonne increases for China.

So far there have been no Nov. 1 announcements for Europe but sources said that could change, especially since the euro has strengthened so much. Today it touched US$1.3825 a two-year high, Reuters reported. (At this writing it is US$1.37942.) The announced Oct. 1 list price for Europe is $900/tonne, up $20/tonne.

Domtar manufactures market pulp at mills in Canada and the U.S., with a total capacity of more than 1.7 million tonnes/year of NBSK, SBSK, northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK), southern bleached hardwood kraft (SBHK), fluff pulp, and specialty pulp.

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