Back in April and May, several coated woodfree paper manufacturers have informed their customers of a 6-8% price increase effective 1 June. Suppliers' efforts to raise prices on the Italian market have been partly rewarded with success in July.
Despite a weak business environment, several paper manufacturers have reportedly succeeded in overcoming resistance from their customers and have raised prices of coated paper reels and coated sheets with effect from mid-June or early July. In some cases, however, suppliers have also agreed with their customers to defer the hike until early August or September, market observers from Italy reported.
The postponement in price increase for coated fine paper is said to apply to larger publishers and printers in Italy. For smaller to medium-sized customers as well as for the wholesale distributors there was nothing left but to accept the price hikes in July, it is learnt
Several suppliers were optimistic that the price hike could be saved over the critical summer months. Burgo Group's decision to permanently shut down PM 1 at the Avezzano mill and withdraw 100,000 tpy of coated woodfree paper capacity from the market is expected to compensate for the drop in demand in the Italian market and should help to shore up coated fine paper prices at a slightly higher level, they said.
⇒ This article in an excerpt from EUWID's monthly report on the Italian paper market. The EUWID Price Watch Italy for July will be published in EUWID Pulp and Paper no. 31 on 1 August.
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