North American pulp producers have followed Sdras lead and cut their prices (PrintWeek, 9 February).


Weyerhaeuser and Mets-Botnia have both cut the price of Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) pulp by $30 per tonne with immediate effect.


Both companies said the new price level of $680 per tonne would be valid until further notice.


In the wake of the cuts, Stora Enso chief executive Jukka Hrml expressed disappointment that nervousness in the pulp market appears to have built up.


Hrml said he did not expect a sudden downward surge in pulp prices, which concurs with Sdra Cells opinion of a second-quarter rise in demand.


Finnish index FOEX has also downgraded the benchmark price for NBSK to $692 per tonne from the previous high of $710 that had been in place since mid-July.


In addition to the price cuts and reflecting the overall weakness of demand in the pulp market, Mets-Botnia is taking 70,000 tonnes of pulp out of the market through 10 days of downtime in the first quarter.


Along with Sdra, Brazils Aracruz and Spains Ence also announced price cuts for their Eucalyptus market pulp last week.


Story by Andy Scott