Mar 6,2012 by FOEX

BHK pulp China – January pulp statistics over the Chinese market were a blend of good and not-so-good news. PPPC showed shipments to China up 14% compared to January 2011. In hardwood, that increase was smaller at about 12%. Shipments were, however, substantially lower than in December 2011 and the lower intake, shown by the import statistics, suggests that the port stocks have risen. In paper sector, stocks are down at paper mills but up at merchants. Several BEKP producers have announced a hike of the list price from typically 605 USD/ton in February to 640 USD/ton for March shipments.  The PIX China BHKP continued to move up, this time by 14.56 USD, or by 2.40%, and closed at 620.60 USD/ton. Yuan strengthened by 0.01% against USD. The conversion of the USD value into Yuan resulted in an increase of 91.47 RMB, or by 2.40%, to 3908.37 RMB/ton.

NBSK pulp China – It is a bit problematic to compare directly the BSKP shipments between January 2012 and January 2011 as there was quite a lot of BSKP pulp delivered last year for the use of the textile industry as an extension of standard dissolving pulp. Still, a bulk of the 90 000 ton increase in market pulp shipments to China in January was in BSKP and within BSKP in NBSKP grade. On the other hand, the import statistics showed a big drop in the actual intake. This means that a fair part of the BSKP increase was either still on the way to China or had ended up in building the inventories. Some BSKP producers have announced limited price hikes for March shipments. Our PIX China NBSK index value increased by 7.08 USD, or by 1.04%, and closed at 690.57 USD/ton. Yuan strengthened by 0.01% against USD. The conversion of the USD value into Yuan meant an increase of 44.34 RMB, or of 1.03%, to 4349.02 RMB/ton.

NBSK pulp Europe – Paper pulp shipments to Europe were weak in January, down by 8.1% from January -11, according to PPPC. In BSKP-grade, the drop was over 10%. A similar size decline (-9.1%) against January -11 was seen in UTIPULP’s consumption data. The weakness of demand was, however, compensated by increases of shipments to other regions of the world and the global supply/demand balance for softwood kraft market pulp was quite good in January and the market remained relatively firm also through February. At least one NBSKP producer has announced a price increase to 850 USD/ton for March shipments. Euro weakened by 1.5% against USD from the previous week. Our PIX NBSK index moved up this time by 17 US cents, or by 0.02%, and closed at 830.27 USD/ton. Converted into Euro, with the weakening of the currency, the index headed higher by 9.26 euro, or by 1.50%, to 628.18 EUR/ton.

BHK pulp Europe – The BHKP market pulp January consumption numbers from UTIPULP show only a limited 2% drop against January -11. Shipment data to Western Europe from the PPPC statistics indicates a clearly larger decline of 6.9% against January 2011. Low actual production numbers have helped to keep the BHKP market firm, even if the theoretical shipment-to-capacity ratio fell to mid 80ies for the month. Several BHKP producers, mainly in BEKP-grade, have announced price hikes for the month of March, typically to 760 USD/ton.  EUR weakened by 1.5% against the USD. The PIX BHKP index-value in EUR headed north by 13.12 Euro, or by 2.44%, and closed at 551.67 EUR/ton. The PIX BHKP index value in USD rose by 6.84 dollars, or by 0.95%, and closed at 729.14 USD/ton.