Holzfaser/Faser+ Schleifholz

The declining prices for softwood pulp during much of 2012 have forced many pulp mills to try to cut wood fibre costs to remain profitable.

The global pulp market is mired in uncertainty: uncertainty when China will move into buying mode, uncertainty about where the European economy is heading and uncertainty if low spot prices for soft

Södra reduced the price of its softwood pulp timber by SEK 25 per m3sub. This price reduction is also applicable to the pulp timber element of its storm range. The price of all hardwood pulp timber ranges will remain unchanged for the time being, however.

"This price reduction is a reaction to the prevailing demand, and there is plenty of raw material available at all Södra pulp mills," said Håkan Svensson, Director of Forestry at Södra.

As part of FLEGT Asia’s information collection role, a number of forest governance, markets and trade Baseline Studies have been carried out in the region. This study is done for China.

Over recent weeks, export log markets have continued to react to oversupply with inventories building and softening prices. This situation of supply being well out of balance with demand is now very pronounced in China and India, and to a lesser extent in Korea and Japan. Irrespective of whether the primary reasons are due to high inventory/slowing demand or pricing being indexed to China, domestic log and processed product prices have decreased across all markets and general trading conditions have become far more challenging than earlier in the year.