The prices for globally traded hardwood chips fell to a record low in May 2016, while softwood chip prices reached the highest level in seven months, according to the latest FOEX Chip Price Indexes.

Global trade of hardwood chips have trended upward for six years and totalled almost 24 million tonnes in 2015.

By far, the two largest wood chip importing markets are Japan and China, both countries with limited forest resources to supply the pulp industry with sufficient wood fibre.
 
The general price trend for hardwood chip traded overseas have been downward since late 2011 when the FOEX price index (PIX-HCG) reached a record high of almost $207/odmt (oven dry metric ton). In May of this year this index was $167.29, representing a 19.1 per cent decline in four and a half years. Some of the biggest price declines in the past 12 months have been for hardwood chips shipped from Australia to China, from South Africa to Japan, and from Uruguay to Portugal.
 
The FOEX softwood chip price index (PIX-SCG) has also fallen from a peak almost five years ago, but the price decline has been less dramatic than that of hardwood chips. During 2016, the SCG index has actually increased to reach $165.55/odmt in May, which was the highest level in seven months. The major price increase so far this year has been for softwood chips exported from the US to Turkey. The majority of global softwood chip trade is in Europe, as opposed to the hardwood chip trade, which is concentrated to Asia.
 
FOEX Indexes is a private, independent company which specialises in providing audited, trade-mark registered price indices for pulp, paper, recovered paper, biomass and wood chips. Financial institutions use the FOEX Indices as benchmarks when setting prices for swap deals and other financial instruments hedging against product price risks.
 
The PIX Indices are trademark registered by FOEX Indexes. - TradeArabia News Service