GLG News by Kraft Pulp Experts

Dissolving pulp has been in short supply for at least a year.  Prices is January for commodity rayon/viscose pulp were US$800 but now in September they top $1100/mt.  Producers are shipping every ton they can produce.  SAPPI-Saiccor in South Africa and RGM's BahiaPulp in Brazil are the...

Viet Nam has SE Asia's fastest growing economy, growing at (conservatively) 6%/year and by other estimates at up to 8% through 2010 when the government estimates it will require 2 milliion mt of fiber.  914,000mt of paper will have to be imported here in 2007 as well as importing 150,000mt of market...

Smurfit-Stone’s sale of the Brewton, AL mill is a logical step after last year’s sale of the consumer packaging division and recycled boxboard mills to TPG Capital/Altivity. SSCC improves concentration on core business. The acquisition of this mill by Georgia-Pacific makes GP a bigger player in SBS...

Thailand is surrounded by countries needing to import fiber to meet their domestic paper & board requirements - Laos, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Myanmar Republic and of course China and India.  With low labor rates, fast growing plantations and favorable transportation costs, this country...

Tasmania's location makes it a prime candidate to be a major supplier to emerging markets in India, SE Asia and the Pacific rim. With 5 million hectares of E.Nitens plantations already producing chips (currently only for export), it is only natural to construct a local pulp mill to produce a value...

Pope & Talbot's announcement of a temporary capacity reduction at the Nanaimo, British Columbia mill is not likely to have a significant impact on the global northern bleached softwood kraft pulp market, but it might  be the "canary in the mineshaft." If the BC logging strike continues,...

Will the new Pratt mill make the entire containerboard segment less attractive? What will be the impact on supply/demand, OCC costs and pricing- especially in view of the new Asian capacity that will come on in the next year? Will the affect all of the containerboard producers equally?

While the BC Logging and sawmill strike is likely to have a negative impact on coastal BC pulp and paper mills as they run out of wood chips, it is likely to benefit US Pacific Northwest operators.  Also many BC sawmills were losing money during the currently poor lumber market, so welcome the...

The strike by British Columbia logging and sawmill workers could have significant negative impact on pulp and paper producers due to chip shortages and increased chip prices. The companies most likely to be negatively impacted include Catalyst Papers, Pope & Talbot, and Howe Sound Pulp.

Having lived in Brazil from 1974 to 1995, and visiting there at least three times a year, I am struck by lack of public knowledge in the US, that Brazil has had alternative fuel for over 30 years in the form of ethanol. My last car in Brazil, a 2 liter Ford station wagon, was powered on 100% alcohol,...