Pulpwood prices in North and Latin America fell in 2012 fourth quarter
Rubber and Wood | 2013-03-11 06:18:20
According to the Wood Resources Quarterly, the pulpwood prices in North America and Latin America fell during 4Q/2012. The fall in pulpwood is mainly attributed to the lower pulp prices during last summer and an increased supply of saw mill chips.
By Paul Ploumis
WASHINGTON (Scrap Monster) : According to the Wood Resources Quarterly, the pulpwood prices in North America and Latin America fell during 4Q/2012. The fall in pulpwood is mainly attributed to the lower pulp prices during last summer and an increased supply of saw mill chips.
According to the report, Western US, British Columbia and Brazil witnessed the biggest declines in prices.
Wood fibre prices trended downward in the local currencies in many of the key pulp-producing countries of the world in the fourth quarter. However, as a result of the weakening US dollar, wood fibre prices actually increased in US dollar terms in a number countries and the Softwood Wood Fibre Price Index (SFPI) was up slightly (+0.1%) in the 4Q/12 to $100.13/odmt. The biggest increases from the 3Q to the 4Q occurred in Eastern Canada, Finland, France and New Zealand.
The price declines in the local currencies were mainly the result of an increased supply of softwood fibre in regions with extensive lumber production. In the US Northwest, chip prices fell as much as 27 percent during 2012 and pulp mills in the region had some of the lowest softwood fibre costs in the world in the 4Q/12.
Additional volumes of residual chips from increased lumber production, reductions in pulp production and pulp mill outages, and large supplies of pulp logs were all factors that contributed to the dramatic turnaround in fibre costs during 2012. A similar trend was seen in Western Canada, where prices in the 4Q/12 were down 22 percent from late 2011, reaching their lowest levels in three years.
Hardwood fibre price movements were mixed, with hardwood pulp log prices generally trending downward in many of the key hardwood pulp-producing regions in both local currencies and in US dollar terms. This resulted in a decline in the Hardwood Wood
Fibre Price Index (HFPI) to US$104.80/odmt in the 4Q/12. This was down 1.5 percent from the previous quarter and 7.8 percent from the 4Q/11.
The biggest decline in hardwood fibre prices occurred in Brazil where Eucalyptus log prices have fallen continuously for over a year from early 2011. In the 4Q/12, prices in US dollar terms were back down to same levels as where they were in early 2009. Few regions in the world currently have lower hardwood costs than Brazil.
