Canfor Pulp announces July 1 price increase for China, to US$750/tonne for reinforcement-grade NBSK pulp

Diane Keaton

LOS ANGELES , June 19, 2014 (Industry Intelligence Inc.) – Canfor Pulp LP announced that as of July 1, its list price in China for its reinforcement-grade northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) will increase to US$750/tonne, the company confirmed.

It did not state a specific increase amount.

The announcement was made the morning of June 20 in Asia, while it was still June 19 in North America.

Two other major bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSKP) producers are known to have announced July 1 price hikes for China.

On June 13, Mercer International Inc. said it was going up to $750/tonne for commodity-grade NBSK, describing it as a $30/tonne increase.

On June 17, Celulosa Arauco y Constitución SA (Arauco) in Chile announced a $10/tonne increase for bleached radiata kraft pulp (BRKP), to $710/tonne. Arauco, unlike Mercer or Canfor Pulp, had announced a price hike for June, as well (up $10/tonne).

Canfor Pulp has not made announcements for other markets at this time, nor have other producers. In North America the NBSK list price has been $1,030/tonne since March. In Europe the NBSK market has mostly been at $925/tonne since March, although some producers said they also had some sales in May at $930/tonne.

Canfor Pulp, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has three mills in Prince George, British Columbia. Two mills produce NBSK exclusively, including 590,000 tonnes/year at the Northwood mill and 320,000 tonnes/year at the Intercontinental mill. The third mill, the Prince George mill, produces 120,000 tonnes/year of UKP, 15,000 tonnes/year of semi-bleached pulp and 135,000 tonnes/year of kraft paper.

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