The price round on the market for publication paper in France is in full swing in mid-December and the first few contracts have been signed already. It seems that mark-ups are on the horizon for both magazine paper and newsprint.

In France buyers and producers of newsprint are getting closer to achieving their goal of concluding the price negotiations for 2016 before Christmas. As the negotiations really got underway, the paper industry has backed down slightly from its original demands of a hike of about 10%. The two sides are now trying to bridge what has become a relatively small gap between the industry's targeted prices and the position of the buyers.

Suppliers and buyers of magazine paper in France are further along than their counterparts in the newsprint sector when it comes to negotiations for the new prices effective 1 January. When insiders were asked about the state of negotiations, responses in mid-December ranged from "we are still negotiating" to "two-thirds of the contracts have been signed". The LWC market, which currently has the strongest demand, has reportedly seen the first contracts signed with increases of up to 5%, while other market sources say these figures are too high and believe lesser mark-ups are more likely.

euwid-paper.com