Pulp spot prices have little room to fall in Europe

paperloop.com
BRUSSELS, July 30, 2001 (paperloop.com) - The pressure has eased on hardwood spot prices in Europe as Indonesian hardwood pulps continue to slip out of the European market.
This has been caused by factors such as higher prices in Asia, timber supply problems and environmental pressure. Eucalyptus is available on the spot market for $340-360/tonne, which, after discounts and rebates are taken into account, is little different to the regular transaction price of approximately $400/tonne.
Spot prices for northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) are at $400/tonne at best, a price below which many North American producers fail to break even. There can be little room for spot prices to fall further. As is typical in a buyer's market, the distinction has blurred somewhat between regular and spot business, with many combined deals going on of regular tonnes topped up with spot.