Despite the seasonal slowdown in demand on the UK market during the summer months, fine paper suppliers are determined to increase prices further, citing above all higher pulp costs as reason.
High pulp costs and pressure on margins remained fine paper producers' greatest concerns in August. Despite the fact that most production capacities have an integrated pulp production, producers said they were envisaging further price increases. As of mid-August, only a few producers of uncoated fine papers had informed their customers about specific measures.
Experts talking to EUWID said they believed it would be harder to implement hikes for coated fine papers than for uncoated grades.They also believe higher prices can only be implemented late than the beginning of October. They say that many market players are on holiday at the moment, so no talks are taking place, and the lead times to implement price hikes usually amount to at least four weeks in the UK.
This article is an excerpt from EUWID's report on the British paper and board market. The EUWID Price Watch UK for August will be published in EUWID Pulp and Paper 34/2018.
