Pulp Industry Wood Costs Increase 17% over Past Two Years
 Print this article | Send to Colleague
Global pulp production in the second half of 2010 was higher than many people anticipated, and pulp markets were better than they had been the first six months of the year, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ), Seattle, Wash, USA. Total production of chemical market pulp last year reached an estimated 45 million tons, which was about 7% more than was produced in 2009. North America and Western Europe increased production by 10% and 12%, respectively, while Latin America reduced production slightly. Other regions including Asia, Africa, and Russia also raised production in 2010, WRQ notes.
High demand for wood raw-material by the pulp industry pushed the costs for wood fiber upward in the second half 2010, WRQ continues. Softwood chips and softwood pulp log prices were higher in most key markets around the world in the fourth quarter of 2010. As a consequence, WRQ's Softwood Wood Fiber Price Index (SFPI) increased for the third consecutive quarter. The Index reached $103.60/o.d. metric ton, which was the highest level since the beginning of the financial crisis, and the SFPI is now 16% above the first quarter 2009 price. The biggest price increases in the fourth quarter of 2010 occurred in the U.S. Northwest, Sweden, Spain, and Brazil.
The Hardwood Wood Fiber Price Index (HFPI) has gone up faster than the SFPI since early 2009. The fourth quarter 2010 Index was $108.28, which was up 3.4% from the previous quarter and almost 18% higher than in the first quarter of 2009. The HFPI has only been higher twice since its inception more than 20 years ago, WRQ points out. Pulp mills in Germany, Spain, France, and Brazil all had to pay more for hardwood logs in their local currencies. In addition, the U.S. dollar weakened against most currencies and therefore contributed to a higher Price Index
One of the few regions that experienced reductions in wood fiber costs in 2010 was the U.S. South, with fourth quarter prices being about 10% lower than in the first quarter. Wood prices in the South were the lowest in all of North America in the fourth quarter of 2010, and pulp mills in this region have benefited from some of the lowest wood fiber costs in the world, according to WRQ.
More information is available online.
|
|
