Canadian market pulp production held firm

Canadian market pulp production held firm for October, reports the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. October production totals stand at 719,000 metric tons, essentially unchanged from last October. Canadian pulp mills operated at 91 percent of capacity, a slight increase from last year’s October figure of 89 percent of capacity.

For the first ten months of the year production of market pulp ratcheted up 9 percent, from 6.75 million metric tons last year to 7.369 million metric tons this year. The operating rate at Canadian mills also reflected the improvement, with this year’s average at 95 percent of capacity, compared to last year’s ten-month average of 85 percent of capacity.

While production improved, total market shipments eased back slightly for the month. According to the CPPA, shipments for the month dropped 2 percent to 763,000 metric tons. However, shipments are up sharply the first ten months of the year, compared to last year. For 1999, shipments stand at 7.530 million metric tons, a 10 percent increase from last year’s figures.

Broken out by individual shipment regions, the United States, the largest importer of Canadian pulp, increased its intake by 10 percent for the month, bringing the ten-month shipment total to 2.5 million metric tons, up 4 percent.

Shipments to Western European sources, on the other hand, declined by 7 percent for the month, although they did increase by 4 percent over the first ten months of the year.

Canadian market pulp inventories dipped for October compared both to figures the previous month as well as for the same time last year.

For October, inventory stands at 524,000 metric tons, compard to the previous month’s figure of 568,000 metric tons, as well as a much steeper drop from last October’s figure of 714,000 metric tons.

The days of pulp on hand also dipped, from 22 days in September, to 20 days at the end of October.