According to the data monitoring of SunSirs: in April 2021, the overall price trend of softwood pulp and hardwood pulp was opposite, and the price of softwood pulp increased and hardwood pulp decreased from the middle April. On April 29, the average price of softwood pulp in Shandong was 7,312.5 RMB/ ton, which increased by 400 RMB/ ton, up 5.79% compared with the average price of softwood pulp in Shandong at the beginning of April (6,912.5 RMB/ ton on April 1). On April 29, the average price of hardwood pulp in Shandong was 5,250 RMB/ ton, which was down 250 RMB/ ton compared with the average price of hardwood pulp in Shandong at the beginning of April (5,500 RMB/ ton on April 1), a decrease of 4.55%.

According to the observation of market changes, the spot price of pulp fell below 7,000 RMB/ ton in early April, while the price of pulp futures fell to a new low of 6,630 RMB/ ton in recent period on March 31, but the price rose again after the opening of the market on April 1. Therefore, on one hand, the price reduction at the beginning of the month was affected by the pulp futures price, on the other hand, the current upward trend of the US dollar index made most of the industrial products market under pressure, and the actual demand was slightly weak, so the domestic spot price was reduced. Subsequently, the price of wood pulp rebounded again, driven by the general rise of overseas pulp mills' quotations and the high frequency and high range of price increase letters issued by downstream base paper enterprises and effectively implemented, further stimulating and boosting market confidence.

In the middle and late April, the fluctuation of pulp futures price slowed down slightly, and the spot price basically followed the ups and downs of the market. From the perspective of market conditions, the demand of downstream paper products is relatively weak, which is significantly lower than the previous market forecast. The price of non delivery products of softwood and broad-leaved pulp has begun to decline. So far, the price difference between Shandong softwood Silver Star and broad-leaved parrot has reached 2,000 RMB/ ton, and the downstream double glue paper and coated paper have shown a downward trend. At present, the reference quotation range of softwood pulp is about 7,250-7,300 RMB/ ton for Yinxing, and 5,150-5,200 RMB/ ton for hardwood pulp.

In terms of futures, on April 29, the opening price of the main contract SP2106 of Shanghai Stock Exchange pulp futures was 7,206 RMB/ ton, and settlement price of the previous day was 7,230 RMB/ ton, with 255,429 transactions and 135,790 positions. SP2105 recently opened at 7,350 RMB/ ton, settled at 7,304 RMB/ ton yesterday, with 6,914 transactions and 21,035 positions.

SunSirs wood pulp analysts believe that the current pulp market began to appear weak trend, downstream purchasing sentiment began to fade, bearish sentiment increased, but the supply is difficult to release quickly, it is expected that the short-term wood pulp prices may be in a wide range of fluctuations in China.

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