The inventory of pulp by North American and
Nordic pulp producers climbed 136,000 metric tons for last month, pushing the
total to close to 1.66 million metric tons.
Broken out by individual countries inventory
levels increased for all the regions. Further, the operating rate at pulp mills
declined. The drop reflected the significant amount of downtime that is being
taken throughout Norscan countries.
According to one report
the amount of production that has come off line over the past several months is
between 600,000-800,000 metric tons.
In the United States, the operating rate
stands at 88 percent of capacity, while the rate at Canadian mills stands at 93
percent of capacity; Finland, 98 percent of capacity; and Sweden, 97 percent of
capacity.
Slackening demand for the finished product
has led to reports of ample discounting taking place. Not only have pulp prices
been sliding back down, but many pulp substitutes have been sliding back down,
reflecting slowing demand for the finished product.
While ample downtime has been taken over the
past quarter, there is expected to be additional downtime scheduled for the
first quarter of next year, adding to concerns that pulp markets could continue
to be sluggish over the first quarter of 2001.

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