Declining consumption is leaving its mark on magazine paper prices throughout Europe. In France, prices from 1 July also fell after the producers’ attempts to increase prices had failed.
New three-month or six-month agreements on France’s magazine paper market frequently contained lower prices. Producers sometimes described their capacity utilisation rates as not bad, but Western Europe still had more than enough production capacity and competition was strong. Manufacturers were once again accusing one another of drawing attention to themselves by offering especially attractive prices to land orders during the latest round of talks.
The closure of UPM’s mill in Stracel, which has a capacity of 280,000 tpy of LWC, will ease matters on the supply side. However, insiders feel that this cannot be the last capacity reduction if supply and demand are to become balanced again in the medium term.
⇒ Find this article in its entirety and any associated background information in EUWID Pulp and Paper no. 30
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