A day after announcing flat
softwood kraft prices for March 1, Resolute Forest Products (Resolute) informed
North American customers that it will increase northern bleached softwood kraft
(NBSK) pulp list prices by $30/tonne in April.
Montreal-headquartered
Resolute's flat NBSK announcement for March essentially led to two camps among
North American producers this month:Domtar and Tembec announced $30/tonne increases on NBSK to $930/tonne, effective Mar. 1. Canfor Pulp set a flat Mar. 1 price on NBSK in the USA but announced a $30/tonne increase that's effective on April 1. The firm has March hikes in China and Europe.
Now, one day after slating flat NBSK levels, Resolute has informed North American customers that it will increase prices by $30/tonne, effective April 1.
That would raise its domestic list price on NBSK to $930/tonne, the same level Canfor Pulp and others slated but with different effective dates.
In addition, Resolute told customers it will increase domestic southern bleached softwood kraft (SBSK) pulp prices to $890/tonne, up $30/tonne. As with NBSK, the firm's SBSK is set to increase one month after Domtar's.
Resoulte has a $30/tonne price increase on two key grades of bleached hardwood kraft (BHK) market pulp effective Mar. 1.
Resolute has an estimated 1.86 million tonnes/yr of market pulp capacity at its US and Canadian mills. It makes NBSK, SBSK, NBHK, SBHK, fluff pulp, and and recycled bleached kraft, or market deinked pulp (MDIP).
