According to the monitoring of the commodity market analysis system of SunSirs, the price of softwood pulp has remained stable this week, while the price of hardwood pulp has slightly declined. On February 13, 2025, the average market price of softwood pulp in Shandong Province was 6700 RMB/ton, which remained stable compared to the average price on February 9. On February 13th, the average market price of hardwood pulp in Shandong Province was 4,970 RMB/ton, a decrease of 0.2% compared to the average price on February 9th.

Supply side: The current strike in Finland has not yet ended, which has an impact on the production of Finnish pulp mills. Therefore, overall, the news presents a bullish effect. Overseas market quotations maintain a strong trend, with a strong willingness to raise prices domestically supported by high costs. However, foreign pulp mills still have maintenance plans in the first quarter, and there may be expectations of a tightening in China's import volume in February and March. Before and after the Spring Festival, the market buying and selling atmosphere weakened, and logistics conditions slowed down, resulting in a tight supply of spot goods in the pulp market.

On the demand side: Although the market price of wood pulp is at a high level, downstream paper companies have a slow pace of resuming work, and their raw material procurement mentality is cautious. The recovery of pulp market demand is limited and there is insufficient follow-up. Due to the incomplete recovery of terminal demand and unclear order demand, downstream acceptance of high priced pulp may be relatively limited, and some regions still present a situation of having prices but no market.

Domestic port data: Inventory levels showed a cumulative trend this week, with a cumulative trend for two consecutive weeks after the holiday. As of February 13, 2025, the sample inventory of mainstream pulp ports in China was 2.302 million tons, an increase of 5.2% month on month and 29.5% year-on-year.

In terms of futures, the price range of pulp futures fluctuated this week. As of February 13, 2025, the opening price of the main contract sp2505 pulp futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was 6,130 RMB/ton, the closing price was 6,108 RMB/ton, and the highest price was 6,132 RMB/ton, with a daily decline of 0.46%. The trading volume was 144,100 lots, and the position was 120,257 lots.

The wood pulp analyst from SunSirs believes that there is still positive support on the supply side of the current market, and external prices continue to rise, indicating a relatively clear upward trend among domestic traders. However, due to weak demand in the downstream raw paper industry or restrictions on pulp price increases, it is expected that the short-term spot price of wood pulp will remain mainly in a range of fluctuations.

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