Fastmarkets amends proposal to reset European, North American pulp prices: pricing notice

Fastmarkets has a duty to ensure its price series remain reasonably aligned with prevailing transaction levels and therefore proposed to reset these benchmark prices to levels closer to actual transacted volumes.

Fastmarkets has collected extensive feedback following the proposal to reset European and North American pulp prices published on April 7, 2026.

Fastmarkets conducted 118 meetings with companies actively buying and selling market pulp. A total of 78% of stakeholders indicated that existing industry gross and effective list prices have become excessively inflated. However, a majority of those respondents asked for a longer timeline and a simpler way to transition from legacy to new prices. Therefore, Fastmarkets is adjusting the proposal to reset European and North American pulp prices as follows:

• Push back start date of launch of new prices from June 2026 to March 2027
• Extend overlap period prior to discontinuation of legacy prices through December 2027
• Simplify reset formula and eliminate mention of discount levels from calculation.

The adjusted proposal is as follows:

Upon launch, the RESET European gross and North American effective list prices would simply be reset as 45% lower than existing gross and effective list prices.

Please note, this would reset gross price levels that Fastmarkets publishes and should not be interpreted as a direct proportional reduction in existing contractual discounts. Existing discount structures would continue to be negotiated and applied between buyers and sellers.

Example
Existing price: $1,600 x (1-.45) = RESET price of $880

The launch of the new European gross and North American effective list prices would happen in March 2027. The existing and new prices would run concurrently for the balance of 2027, and the discontinuation of existing legacy prices would take place on December 31, 2027.

Below is the list of European gross and North American effective list prices concerned:

• FP-PLP-0039 PIX Pulp NBSK USD
• FP-PLP-0037 PIX Pulp NBSK EUR
• FP-PLP-0040 PIX Pulp BHKP USD
• FP-PLP-0038 PIX Pulp BHKP EUR
• FP-PLP-0013 Pulp, northern bleached softwood kraft, from Canada, delivered US East, $/tonne
• FP-PLP-0014 Pulp, southern bleached softwood kraft, from US, delivered US East, $/tonne
• FP-PLP-0026 Pulp, northern and southern mixed bleached hardwood kraft (Canadian/US), delivered US East, $/tonne
• FP-PLP-0018 Pulp, bleached hardwood kraft, eucalyptus, delivered in place Brazil to US East, $/tonne
• FP-PLP-0015 Pulp, unbleached softwood kraft, from Canada/US, delivered US East, $/tonne
• FP-PLP-0016 Pulp, fluff (US southern kraft, untreated, rolls), delivered US East, $/tonne
• FP-PLP-0009 Pulp, fluff, US southern kraft untreated rolls, cif Europe, $/tonne*

*Price for US-origin material delivered to Europe and published in the European price tables of PPI Europe Price Watch, as well as in table 5 of the World Pulp Monthly. The remaining European effective list prices published in PPI Europe will be addressed in a separate pricing notice following completion of this consultation.

Please note that Fastmarkets has also proposed time and price thresholds to review the new gross and effective list prices. Fastmarkets would review these prices at minimum once per year or if observed average discount levels exceed 35% of gross prices. These reviews may or may not result in future proposed resets.

Any future proposed reset would also be conducted through a public consultation. 

The new indices and effective list prices would have the same specification, methodology and price formation approach as the existing indices and effective list prices they would replace.

The launch of new indices and effective list prices will take place, subject to market feedback, in March 2027. The discontinuation of existing legacy indices and assessments would take place on December 31, 2027.

Fastmarkets has published a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to accompany this proposal. It can be found here.

To provide feedback on this proposal or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter, please send feedback by June 26, 2026 to pricing@fastmarkets.com and pulp@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “re: Pulp index resets.”

Please indicate if comments are confidential. Fastmarkets will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.