In July, China's wood pulp market found itself suspended between two truths that could not yet be reconciled: the distant promise of tighter global supply and the immediate weight of sluggish seasonal demand. Softwood pulp inched upward on news of overseas mill closures, while hardwood pulp quietly retreated under the pressure of new capacity and domestic substitution. The market, like a scale awaiting a decisive weight, held its breath — neither rising nor falling with conviction — as traders and papermakers alike looked toward September for a clearer answer.