The $10-per-tonne rise for softwood is the second in as many months (PrintWeek, 25 September), and takes the price to $560 a tonne.

Marketing director Ulf Edman said the Swedish pulp producer had seen an improvement in the market, resulting in an increase in deliveries.

Stocks of pulp had also fallen as a result of slight improvements in demand, he said.

Sdra more than doubled its pre-tax profits to 88.5m (SKr1.1bn), according to its results for January to September 2003.

Net sales also increased during the period to 760.5m, a rise of 13% on the same period last year.

Production output for pulp also increased by 7% to 1.5m tonnes.