N.A. Coated Free Sheet Market Showing Signs of Improvement

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The tenor of the N.A. coated free sheet market is improving. April list prices were reportedly up $5-$10/ton, according to Mark Wilde, senior analyst with Deutsche Bank. Reports suggest that producers are considering announcing further price hikes in July, which is the seasonally strong period for commercial printers.

While March shipment data show signs of improvement, (+24.1% y/y, +15.6% m/m), much of the gain owes to a "lapping" of weak numbers from March 2009 (-32.6% y/y). However, the coated sheet market will get a large bounce as restrictions on Chinese and Indonesian imports take effect (see article above on U.S. anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Indonesian imports). For Chinese mills, this adds 31%-90% to the 4%-13% duties already in place, and Indonesian mill face an additional 11% on top of the previous 18%, according to Wilde.