Market respondents presume that the recent price increase announcement for July as well as technical downtime at a number of mills helped to stabilise prices.
Producers expect that the summery weather will provide a demand boost for corrugated packaging in the coming weeks and thus help stabilise prices. Sceptics, however, note that the substitution process of recent years has significantly reduced demand for virgin-fibre paper, so even an uptick in demand should not hamper availability. Supplies are not likely to be tight in the longer term, either.
Stora Enso has confirmed the amended rebuild plans for its Oulu fine paper mill in Finland and will switch its PM 7 over to the production of kraftliner. Furthermore, the new board machine BM 7 has been up and running at Billerud Korsnäs’ Gruvön mill since May. Klabin of Brazil has announced a massive project for its Ortigueira site. It plans to build two new kraftliner plants, which should add a total of 920,000 tpy of new capacity for unbleached and white-top kraftliner to the market by 2023.
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