COVERAGE NOTE: Proposed Changes to European Pulp Price Coverage – Final Decision

As previously announced, Fastmarkets RISI has made the following changes to its European pulp price coverage with effect from January 2019.

1)            European fluff pulp prices are now formally tied to the US fluff pulp
               price assessment published in PPI Pulp & Paper Week (Price ID 171)

2)            Assessments for bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp, aspen (Price
               ID 606) have been discontinued.

We believe this change will better reflect market dynamics. When Fastmarkets RISI launched assessments for European pulp in 2002 there was frequently a difference in pricing between European and US fluff pulp. Over time, however, the market has consolidated and prices in the two regions are generally at parity.

Due to the relatively small size of the European market for bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp and paucity of market information, it has become difficult to maintain reasonable assessments for this grade. In addition, the grade generally trades as a differential to BEK.

Fastmarkets RISI launched a market consultation on these changes to European pulp price coverage on Nov. 20, 2018. No negative feedback was received.

For comments or queries, please email pricing.risi@fastmarkets.com, mentioning “European pulp” in the subject line of the email.

For more information on Fastmarkets RISI’s methodology for Global pulp markets, please see here.

For other Fastmarkets RISI coverage notes please see here.