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US pulp spot markets opened the year with understated movement as bleached softwood kraft (BSK) stabilized after months of erosion and bleached hardwood kraft (BHK) showed signs of perking up, industry sources told Fastmarkets.
Benchmark northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) held at $700-730 per tonne net delivered to the US East and Midwest, according to Fastmarkets’ surveying through Friday January 16. Levels were unchanged compared with prices recorded on December 12, the last US spot market survey of 2025. December has no end-of-month US spot market survey, with only effective list prices and export prices across Asia published on December 30.
Preliminary January US NBSK effective list prices were flat at $1,535 per tonne, according to Fastmarkets’ first survey of 2026. That left the latest US NBSK spot market prices averaging about 53% below the list.
That spread is above levels that typically suggest pricing power. But discounts off list prices are up this year and a December bounce in Asian export prices has producers believing they could lift domestic spot prices in the coming weeks. With US NBSK spot prices averaging $140 per tonne below year-ago results of $835-875 per tonne net, some high-cost mills in Canada face the risk of closure, sources said.
The permanent closure of Domtar’s 380,000 tonne per year Crofton market NBSK pulp mill in British Columbia occurred last week, according to industry sources who said the mill produced its last bale of NBSK on Wednesday January 14. While the output loss will impact Asian export markets first, capacity closures tend to filter through global NBSK markets during the following weeks as consumers pull tonnage from other mills.
Baled BSK supplies remain abundant and there’s no short-term sign of a pricing rebound, industry sources told Fastmarkets. US southern bleached softwood kraft (SBSK) spot markets declined to $670-710 per tonne net delivered, drifting down by $5 per tonne, according to Fastmarkets’ surveying.
Many pulp mills in the US South can make fluff or SBSK depending on demand. During strong fluff pulp cycles, mills often pivot from baled SBSK to rolled fluff output to garner higher mill nets. Despite list price hike announcements of $150 per tonne from at least two fluff producers, there’s little upward momentum so far, sources said.
“Fact is, fluff is down and it is putting additional SBSK on the market. And it is driving prices down,” a US buyer source said regarding spot SBSK. “While we hear big announcements on fluff, are they pulling tonnes away from SBSK and producing fluff? Right now, not really.”
In US BHK pulp markets, spot market prices edged up only $5 per tonne despite list price increase announcements of $120 per tonne from Latin American producers of bleached eucalyptus kraft (BEK), which went into effect on January 1.
US BHK spot market supplies are mixed overall, with no buyers expressing concern about supply but market participants broadly noting that domestically produced BHK spot prices edged up softly compared with December. US BHK spot market prices increased by $5 per tonnne, bringing levels to $565-585 per tonne net delivered through January 16, according to Fastmarkets’ surveying.
Preliminary US BHK effective list prices were broadly mixed. Levels ranged anywhere from flat to up as much as $60 per tonne, resulting in a range of $1,225-1,285 per tonne. That leftUS BHK spot prices averaging 54% below the list.
Effective January 2016, Fastmarkets merged separate indices for northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK) and southern bleached hardwood kraft (SBHK) into one index.
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