An August 1 newsprint price hike balloon may not have gotten off the ground, but there is no doubt that North American newsprint producers are serious about raising their prices to U.S. customers this fall.
The principal producers, led by No. 1 AbitibiBowater, plan for $70/tonne hikes over a two-month period. Producers in the East expect to phase in $35/tonne hikes on both Sept. 1 and Oct. 1.
The list on that schedule includes No. 2 White Birch, Kruger and Tembec.
On the West Coast, No. 4 producer Catalyst Paper and Norpac announced $35/month increases for Oct. 1 and Nov. 1.
Prices for benchmark 30# (48.8 g/m2) newsprint currently are around $445/tonne, down more than $300/tonne since the start of the year and off $85/tonne so far in the third quarter, according indexed data from Foex Indexes in Helsinki.
AbitibiBowater told customers that "unprecedented reductions in newsprint prices in the United States, in both speed and size, (are) resulting in pricing levels that are unsustainable."
An Aug. 1 price hike of $50/tonne pushed by Catalyst, Tembec and Kruger failed to be implemented after AibitiBowater and White Birch gave it no support. The two producers control some two-thirds of North American capacity.
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