Global wood fibre prices in the fourth quarter of 2008 experienced the largest drop in two decades, according to the Wood Resources Quarterly (WRQ).
The average softwood fibre price fell 12% to US97.32/odmt (oven-dry metric tons), a drop that is attributed to the relative strength of the US dollar against currencies in the 17 regions tracked by WRQ (accounting for 85-90% of the world’s wood-based pulp production capacity), with the exception of Japan; and to lower costs in the local currencies in western Canada, Sweden, France, Russia, Australia and western US. Wood fibre costs in the latter have fallen by 22% in six months.
The average hardwood fibre cost fell 11% in the fourth quarter, to US$98.38/odmt, the lowest level since the second quarter of 2007.
