Feb 2020

Pulp Capacity & Price Changes

• OKI mill extended its production curtailment until the end of Mar’ 20, due to shortage of clean water, reducing ~212kt of pulp supply to market. [RISI, Feb 2020]
• Suzano announced that 1.1 million ton of inventory has being cleared in 2nd half of 2019, where its inventory level in 2019 is lower than 2018. Also, pulp outlook remain positive despite COVID-19 outbreak, as this result of increase tissue consumption in China (and globally). [RISI, Feb 2020]

Paper Capacity & Price Changes

• Various paper producers announced UWF price hike, such as APP: +$20/tonne from Feb ’20; Burgo Group, Lecta and Sappi : +5%-8% from Apr ‘20 [RISI, Feb 2020]
• Top paper producer, Domtar, with 2.8 million tons/yr of capacity sees potential to “covert” half of its paper capacity in future. [RISI, Feb 2020]
• Big paper mills in China has resumed production (except Hubei province) but majority of small paper mills stopped production since end Jan ’20 – relieving pressure on paper pricing. One paper distributor describe the current situation as “(paper) demand has simply been postponed, not wiped out.”[RISI, Feb 2020]