According to the monitoring of the commodity market analysis system of SunSirs, the prices of softwood pulp and hardwood pulp still showed a downward trend last week. On April 18th, the average market price of softwood pulp in Shandong Province was 6,400 RMB/ton, a decrease of 0.78% compared to the average price on April 13th. On April 18th, the average market price of hardwood pulp in Shandong Province was 4,490 RMB/ton, a decrease of 1.97% compared to the average price on April 13th.

On the supply side: The current wood pulp market is affected by the imposition of tariffs on Sino US trade, resulting in a decline in wood pulp imports and a narrowing of supply in the pulp market in April. The rumors of domestic pulp discounts and trial production of new capacity for Shandong broad-leaved pulp have filled the gap in imported wood pulp, but there is still an increase in the industry's bearish expectations.

On the demand side: April is in the traditional off-season of the paper industry, and the expected decline in downstream raw paper industry production is not conducive to the increase of pulp market consumption, dragging down pulp prices. In addition, the tariff policy has led to a widespread bearish sentiment in the market, and the negative factors of weak demand in the off-season of the paper industry have dragged down the weak downward trend of pulp and paper prices.

Domestic port data: Inventory levels have shown a slight accumulation trend in this cycle. As of April 17, 2025, the sample inventory of mainstream pulp ports in China was 2.069 million tons, an increase of 2.7% compared to the previous period's accumulation of 55,000 tons. This cycle, there is a trend of accumulated inventory in the mainstream domestic pulp port Qingdao Port. The daily average shipping speed in the port has not changed much, and the main port still has a large inventory of broad-leaved pulp. The inventory of Changshu Port shows a narrow accumulation trend, while the inventory of other ports fluctuates within the normal level range, with little overall fluctuation.

In terms of futures, last week's pulp futures prices fluctuated slightly. As of April 18th, the opening price of the main contract sp2507 pulp futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was 5,328 RMB/ton, the closing price was 5,362 RMB/ton, and the highest price was 5,390 RMB/ton, with a daily decline of 0.04%. The trading volume was 242,300 lots, and the position was 144,287 lots.

The wood pulp analyst from SunSirs believes that the uncertainty of China US tariff policies has not yet dissipated its impact on macro sentiment, and the cost pressure of softwood pulp is high, causing traders to be unwilling to sell at low prices. The transaction pace of the hardwood pulp market is relatively slow, and traders are in a wait-and-see state. It is expected that the short-term wood pulp prices may continue to operate weakly.

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