Pricing power returns for paper makers on costlier imports

Since January, most paper companies have raised prices at least twice, believing demand-supply balance will return and imports will get costlier. Prices of most varieties have gone up by three to four per cent; over a year, by eight per cent, on average.

A higher price for wood pulp globally has had a big role in making imported paper costlier. The price has risen in three months by about 20 per cent, to around $600 a tonne. Said an official from a top-grade mill, “Indian companies are less dependent on imported wood pulp; they have their own domestic arrangement.”

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