Wood-Pulp Prices Surge as Speculators Pounce in China

Wood-Pulp Prices Surge as Speculators Pounce in China

Wood-pulp prices are soaring thanks to speculators in China, with help from paper takeout containers, a weaker dollar and people using restrooms at home instead of the office.

Bleached softwood kraft pulp futures have risen 48% on the Shanghai Futures Exchange since Dec. 1, to about $1,037 a ton. Meanwhile, producers around the world are boosting prices for the wood mash at unusually sharp rates.

Domtar Corp.



UFS 2.90%



, based in South Carolina, said it would raise prices this month between $100 and $130 a ton, depending on grade.

“Spot prices are really jumping,” said



Brian McClay,

a pulp-market consultant and a founder of pricing service Trade Tree Online. “I've been in the pulp business since 1978 and have been asking friends: No one has seen this before, no one has seen the scale of this.”