Company: SUZ
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001628280-25-020368
Chunk: 113

Company: Suzano S.A.
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 5
Chunk 113
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 economic conditions. The year began with paper production exceeding expectations and low pulp inventories, leading to a supply that fell short of demand and creating favorable conditions for price increases. As the months gone by, a gradual normalization of supply was observed, driven by the introduction of new capacities, despite unscheduled downtimes. The replacement of softwood pulp with hardwood pulp was a significant trend that gained even more traction in the final months of the year due to the widening spread between the prices of these fibers.

In China, the year began with high paper production across all segments, but papermakers faced tight margins and struggled to pass on the increased costs of pulp. In the second half of the year, the launch of new projects, such as Suzano's Ribas do Rio Pardo Unit and Liansheng in China, combined with a normalization of supply with fewer unplanned downtimes, resulted in a greater availability of hardwood pulp. This, coupled with the squeezed margins of papermakers, led to a decline in demand in China and a reduction in prices that began in August. At the end of the year, demand stabilized due to the strong pace of paper production and improved margins for paper producers, which were able to raise the prices of finished products due to the temporary exit of a major integrated producer of paperboard and printing and writing papers from the market.

Table of Co ntents

In the European market, the consumption of hardwood pulp was influenced by seasonal factors and the crisis in the Red Sea, which affected the import of finished paper products, encouraging local paper production that, in turn, boosted the demand for pulp in the region. Following the first half of the year, when the demand for pulp in Europe surpassed expectations, there was a decline during the European summer, consistent with historical seasonal patterns. Subsequently, demand returned in the last months of the year due to the replacement of softwood pulp for hardwood pulp. In North America, the sanitary paper market remained healthy throughout the year, despite economic uncertainties and inflation.

With regard to pulp supply, 2024 was a year of gradual normalization following an initial period characterized by supply restrictions due to strikes in Finland and Chile, an earthquake in Taiwan, floods in southern Brazil, and accidents at facilities in Finland and Indonesia. The entry of new capacities in Brazil and China, along with the resolution of strikes and the reduction of rainfall in Rio Grande do Sul, contributed to a greater availability of pulp in the market during the second half of the year.

Our pulp net sales totaled R$37,593 million in