Hardwood Pulp Market Stronger than Softwood in Second Half of 2014
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According to the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ), Seattle, Wash., USA, global pulp market data for the third quarter of this year show that the hardwood pulp (BHKP—bleached hardwood kraft pulp) market has been somewhat stronger than the softwood pulp (NBSK—northern bleached softwood kraft) market during the second half of 2014.
Hardwood pulp prices, WRQ notes, have been in steady decline for more than a year, but have flattened out the past few months. There are signs that the bottom in pricing might have been reached, it adds.
In the global biomass markets arena, pellet shipments from the U.S. and Canada to Europe have gone in opposite directions during the first nine months of 2014, WRQ reports, with shipments from the U.S. South being up almost 50%, while Canadian volumes declining 5% during the same period. South Korea’s demand for pellets has increased substantially in 2014. During the first 10 months, importation of wood pellets was five times higher than in 2013, reaching almost 1.5 million tons.
Pellet prices were lower in all the three major markets in Europe this fall compared with a year ago, and the expectations are for only modest price increases in the coming months.
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