SunSirs: China Wood Pulp Pice First Suppressed and Then Rose, and It Continued to Consolidate in the Short Term

According to the monitoring of the commodity market analysis system of SunSirs, the price of softwood pulp first fell and then rose and fluctuated last week, while the price of hardwwod pulp remained stable and slightly upward. On December 12th, the average market price of softwood pulp in Shandong Province was 5,583.33 RMB/ton, a decrease of 0.3% compared to the average price on December 7th. On December 12th, the average market price of hardwwod pulp in Shandong Province was 4,650 RMB/ton, an increase of 1.09% compared to the average price on December 7th.

On the supply side: The news of overseas pulp mills shutting down for maintenance continues, which may lead to a reduction in subsequent shipping volume. The short-term news may continue to support the confidence of industry players, which is favorable for the upward recovery of needle pulp prices. And the domestic inventory continued to show a trend of destocking last week, and has been showing a destocking trend for three consecutive weeks. As of December 11, 2025, the sample inventory of mainstream pulp ports in China was 2.036 million tons, a decrease of 3.1% compared to the previous period's destocking of 65,000 tons. This cycle, the mainstream domestic pulp port Qingdao Port continues to show a trend of destocking, and the daily average shipment speed inside the port has accelerated; Changshu Port's inventory shows a trend of destocking, with shipments exceeding 90,000 tons within the port; The inventory of other ports remains within the normal range of fluctuations, with little change in quantity.

On the demand side: Although downstream paper companies have the intention to promote price increases, market feedback is slightly average, and the expected increase in prices of various paper types may be difficult to achieve. Low profit levels may continue to constrain the enthusiasm of paper mills to purchase pulp, thereby suppressing the rise in pulp prices. In addition, the industry's processing profits continue to be weak, the market's acceptance of high priced raw materials has decreased, and the overall procurement pace has slowed down, which is not conducive to the high price volume increase in the pulp market.

However, downstream white cardboard still saw a slight increase, while the cost of wood pulp remained at a high level of adjustment. Production and sales remained stable, and inventory remained good, leading to a strong attitude of paper mills to pull up prices. Orders are expected to be released gradually before New Year's Day and Spring Festival, and overall market demand is improving. Supported by favorable factors such as costs and demand, traders still maintain a bullish outlook in the future market.

In terms of futures: Last week, pulp futures prices saw a significant increase in the middle of the week. As of December 12th, the opening price of the main pulp futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was 5,562 RMB/ton, the closing price was 5,534 RMB/ton, the highest price was 5,590 RMB/ton, the trading volume was 482,900 lots, and the position was 204,480 lots.

The wood pulp analyst from SunSirs believes that the recent rapid rise in pulp prices has created a strong wait-and-see atmosphere in the market. However, downstream acceptance of high priced wood pulp is poor, and market transactions tend to be light, which has a restraining effect on wood pulp prices. The further increase in the price of imported hardwwod pulp indirectly supports the market price of softwood pulp, and it is expected that the price of wood pulp will continue to consolidate in the short term.

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