The potential impact of the Joutseno closure on the pulpwood market is largely already priced into current prices, as it has mostly been shut down for the past year. And UPM’s and SE’s pulp mills have also been operating below capacity. Still, pulpwood prices are 20-25% higher than before the war, and prices for all species have risen again in the last 3-6 weeks.
It will be interesting to see UPM’s Q1 results. Has Finnish pulp production returned to profitability and what was the operating rate in Q1?