Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Summary of UNCOATED FREE SHEET

As reported, Uncoated free sheet prices were flat in February. The market for UFS is reasonably tight, with pricing on the margin starting to trend upward. The issue over the next few months will be supply reductions - paper manufacturers reducing capacity. It is expected that some fall-out from the Domtar/Weyerhaeuser combination. In addition, during the second quarter of this year, International Paper will idle its 350,000 Pensacola, FL UFS machine in preparation for a conversion to containerboard. In total, 500-600,000/tons of capacity could be idled. European & Japanese producers have both announced pricing initiatives in the past 2 weeks. European UFS prices are reportedly well above US prices.

No comments: