- North America pulp registers further increase this week but rally likely to moderate now: US spot markets have eased back to regular pulp allocations or 10% below that. In China, imported pulp appears to be at a standstill now, with suppliers keeping prices stable or not offering new volumes, while buyers have been holding back on new orders. Chinese P&B produces have resorted to downtime in order stop prices from dropping, thus causing pulp demand to moderate.
- CWF registers another price increase this week: With CWF up 0.8% this week, the CWF/HW spread improves but still firmly in the red at EUR 221/t (UWF producers: -EUR 27/t). UWF prices should improve with most producers having announced at least an 8% increase from June.
- Kraftliner stable, while testliner gains further ground this week (+1.6%): YTD, testliner is up 29%, followed by kraftliner (+17%) and white-top kraftliner (6%). European OCC prices have stabilized, dropping 1% w/w to EUR 145/t (still up 120% y/y.
- All Russian containerboard grades increased in April on the back of strong demand: Kraftliner demand has been strong, but supply has been impacted by downtime from the likes of Mondi, Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper and other smaller producers. White-top kraftliner demand has also been robust, but with prices up c. RUB 3,000/t in April. Kraftliner producers increased prices by c. RUB 6,000-7,000/t vs. RUB 4,000-8000/t for testliner producers (up 16% m/m above RUB 50,000/t). Kraftliner producers are targeting an increase of RUB 12,000/t for June.
- Solid bleached sulphate (SBS) producers in North America announce further price increases (positive read-though for Sappi North America): Graphic Packaging, Clearwater Paper, WestRock and Pactiv Evergreen are targeting a USD 50/t price increase from 15 June.
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