Portucel Soporcel Raises UWF Paper Prices across Europe

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The Portucel Soporcel group, Portugal's second leading exporter, will increase the prices for its UWF (uncoated woodfree) paper products 3% to 5% across all European markets, beginning April 1. The increase mirrors two increases already implemented by the group this year in the U.S., Middle East, African, and Asian markets, and an increase in Latin America.

According to Portucel Soporcel, strong pressure on the industry's cost structure that undermined profitability and led to the closure of several plants in the U.S. and Europe, has made this price review inevitable, together with the fact that prices dropped by around 3% throughout 2013 alone. It is necessary to go back three and a half years, to summer 2010, to find prices lower than they are currently, the company noted, underlining this with the fact that during the past three-plus decades, only six times have real prices been actually lower than they are today.

The Portucel Soporcel group currently has a production capacity for 1.6 million metric tpy of paper, 1.4 million metric tpy of pulp (of which 1.1 million metric tons is integrated into paper), and power generation of 2.5 TWh, adding up to an annual turnover above EUR 1,500 million.

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