Pulp price will have new adjustment in China in May

South American pulp producers announced a new round of price increases for hardwood pulp in China for May. The Brazilian pulp company Klabin has informed its customers that it will implement the readjustment of US$ 30 per ton as of the 1st, being accompanied by Bracell and Chile’s Arauco.

In this way, the negotiation of short fiber will be US$ 810 in orders invoiced as of next month. With the full application of the new increase, the increase accumulated since January rises to almost 45%.

Prices continue to rise in the face of the current global scenario, marked by strikes, war in Ukraine and the concentration of scheduled maintenance shutdowns in factories, at a time of heated demand, especially in North America and Europe. In addition, there are problems in global maritime transport and in regional logistics chains, such as lack of wagons, drivers and trucks, resulting in the consumption of inventories and more robust orders, which exacerbated the imbalance between supply and demand.

This context, added to the readjustments of up to US$ 100 per ton in April – which were fully applied, according to Suzano –, indicated new increases still in this cycle, since drastic changes were not foreseen in the short term.

In the last week, the net price of hardwood rose to US$ 784.02 per ton in the Chinese market, up US$ 91.90 in a month and US$ 0.40 in a week. Softwood, on the other hand, advanced US$ 2.80, to US$ 979.53 per ton, with an appreciation in the month of US$ 57.90.

For Chinese resale, eucalyptus pulp dropped US$ 6.20, to US$ 800.79 per ton. In addition to prices having matched those of imports, the strike by UPM workers, which had been going on since January 1, in Finland, came to an end on Friday, 22.