Mercer International Inc.(MERC)
HQ CA11% share
Canadian NBSK pulp manufacturer; ~2.0 MMT/yr total pulp capacity (88% NBSK) across 4 mills in BC/Alberta (Canada) and Saxony/Thuringia (Germany); Celgar (Castlegar, BC) is key North American NBSK mill.
agricultural · input
NBSK Virgin Softwood Pulp (Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft)
Provides tensile strength in tissue via long fibers (2.5–4 mm); non-substitutable for strength layer. ~80% of global NBSK capacity concentrated in Canadian BC/Alberta and Scandinavia (Sweden, Finland). BC wildfires and flooding (2021) caused Canfor spot NBSK curtailments and price spikes.
4
Source countries
5
Companies
1
Goods affected
0
Claims on record
What depends on it
Goods that need this input
1 essential American goods rely on nbsk virgin softwood pulp (northern bleached softwood kraft) somewhere upstream in their supply chain.
Where it comes from
Source countries
Share of global supply, by country.
| Country | Share of supply |
|---|---|
| CACanada | 30% |
| SESweden | 22% |
| FIFinland | 18% |
| USUnited States | 10% |
Who makes it
Supplier companies
5 companies produce nbsk virgin softwood pulp (northern bleached softwood kraft).
SCA Group (Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget)
HQ SE10% share
Swedish forest industry company (Stockholmsbörsen: SCA, HQ Sundsvall, Västernorrland; ~SEK 23B revenue); Europe's largest private forest owner (2.6 million hectares in northern Sweden) and a major NBSK producer at Östrand pulp mill (Timrå, Sweden — one of the world's largest NBSK mills at 900,000 tonnes/year capacity). SCA also produces containerboard (packaging), solid-wood products, and renewable energy from its forests. SCA split from Essity (formerly SCA Hygiene) in 2017 — Essity became the tissue/hygiene product company (Tork, Lotus brands), while SCA retained the forest, pulp, and paper assets. The world's largest Tork institutional tissue brand buyer and Sweden's largest forest owner used to be the same company; they are now legally separate. SCA's Östrand mill expansion (completed 2018 for €1.1B) doubled capacity and made it Sweden's largest NBSK mill.
Södra
HQ SE7% share
Swedish forest owners' cooperative; ~1.32 MMT/yr NBSK from Mörrum (470,000 t/yr) and Värö (850,000 t/yr) mills; key Scandinavian NBSK supplier to European and global tissue manufacturers.
Sylvamo Corporation
HQ US6% share
American pulp and paper company (NYSE: SLVM, HQ Memphis TN; ~$3.8B revenue; spun off from International Paper in 2021); produces NBSK and NBHK (hardwood) pulp and printing/writing paper in Latin America (Brazil, Brazil-based Arauco partnership), North America, and Europe. Sylvamo's main NBSK production is from its Eastover (South Carolina) and Saillat (France) mills. Sylvamo was spun off from International Paper to allow IP to focus on packaging while Sylvamo focused on the declining printing/writing paper business — a corporate separation that isolated the printing paper market from IP's growth strategy.
Canfor Corporation(CFP)
HQ CA5% share
British Columbia's largest softwood lumber producer; ~8–10% NA capacity; significantly affected by mountain pine beetle devastation of BC interior forests. Growing US South mill base.