As we approached 2008 and beyond the first half of the year, pulp prices continued a steady stream of price increases. Suddenly, we entered the forth quarter, and BOOM. Pulp inventories were on the rise, manufactures were curtailing production, and inventory surged from 29 days in September of 2007 to 44 days in September of 2008. Hardwood inventory increased to unheard of levels. 2009 comes along with the worst economic downturn in modern history and a new year does not appear to be reversing these trends. USA prices for NBSK saw a high of $880/ton. Challenge today is if prices decline to below $600/ton – this will be below manufacturing cost for the less efficient mills.
FOEX provided the following chart for monthly NBSK ‘list pricing’
June $880
July $890
August $887
September $873
October $849
November $823
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment