Wood fiber costs for softwood pulp manufacturers in 16 countries have gone up the past two years

By Hakan Ekstrom
Wood Resources International LLC
July 11, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

The Softwood Fiber Price Index (SFPI) has risen the past two years. In the 1Q/19, the Index reached its highest level since 2014, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly. Higher wood fiber costs in the US South, Russia and New Zealand contributed to most of the rise of the SFPI in late 2018 and early 2019. It is likely that the upward trend will come to a halt during the summer, and then start to decline in the second half of 2019. The cost of wood fiber for the world’s pulp industry has trended upward for over two years because of higher demand and a tightening regional supply of wood fiber. From the 1Q/17 to the 1Q/19, prices for pulplogs and woodchips (in the local currencies) have gone up in all 17 countries tracked by the WRQ. The only exception has been in Eastern Canada, where an oversupply of sawmill residues has put downward price pressure on both logs and chips.

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