The Custom Market Report includes four Analytical Cornerstone cost reports, all of which share the same interactive graphing functionality. These graph-based reports allow users to analyze cost competitiveness and compare mills within the selected market.

The following cost curve graphs are available:

Cash Cost Curve: Displays mills ranked by cash (operating) cost, showing relative cost competitiveness.

Direct Cost Curve: Visualizes mills based on their cash cost and capital cost (depreciation and capital charges).

EBITDA Curve: Shows the distribution of mills according to calculated EBITDA performance, based on estimates.

Total Cost Curve: Provides a complete cost view, incorporating all cost components: cash cost, capital charges plus overhead/SG&A cost.

Highlight: Opens the highlighting tools. For details, see the How to highlight and label mills or companies article on the support hub.

Compare Dates: Allows comparison of two different cost dates within the same view. For details, see the How can I compare the cost at two specific points in time article on the support hub. 

Show Fiber Breakout: will break down the cost per fiber category (natural fiber (wood), market pulp and recycled fiber) in the Data report.

Sheeted Cost: Sheeted cost can be turned on or off, and is only applicable to certain paper products.

Export: Opens export options for downloading the data.: For details, see the Exporting Data and Graphs in Analytical Cornerstone article on the support hub. 

Custom Market Reports - Cash Cost Curve - Graph

The Cash Cost Curve report shows the cash cost breakdown for all mills or machines included in the selected Custom Market.

The X‑axis represents the capacity of the market
(e.g., 8.61 million short tons in the example below).

The Y‑axis represents the cost per ton(ne) produced.

Each bar on the chart represents a paper machine (or a pulp dryer if a market pulp grade is selected):

• The width of the bar corresponds to the machine’s capacity.
• The height represents the cost per ton(ne) produced.

This visualization allows users to see how mills or machines rank from lowest to highest cost, and to quickly identify cost‑competitive or less competitive assets.

• Mill – when several products are included in the market.
• Company – when multiple mills, machines, and products are included.
• Grade – when several product grades are included.
• Product – when multiple products are included.
• World Region – when more than one world region is included.
• Region – when several countries or sub‑regions are included.
• Configuration – when several mill configuration types are included.

Each grouping displays the total capacity (per day and per year) for the selected category, in ascending or descending order (that you can sort alphabetically).

Selecting None will return you to the default, ungrouped view.

Indicate By is only available on the Cost Curve Graph. When using Indicate By, the colors and legend automatically adjust based on the selected item:

• None – No color coding or legend is shown. However, any mill previously highlighted will remain visible.
• Mills – The legend displays mill names.
• Company (default setting) – The legend shows company names.
• Grade – Shows different grades (when multiple grades are present in the market).
• Product – Shows different products (when several products are included).
• World Region – Shows all world regions/continents if applicable.
• Region - shows different countries or sub-regions if applicable.
• Bleaching – Shows bleaching types (e.g., ECF) if applicable.
• Configuration – Shows configuration types such as Integrated, Semi‑integrated, Recycled, etc.
• Natural Expense – Provides a quick visual of mills with high cost categories (see example below).
• Highlight – Removes color coding, displays mill names, and allows you to label a mill to view its cost breakdown below.

Overlay Market Price allows you to display a price indicator for the selected products directly on the graph. This helps you visually compare market prices against mill or product costs, making it easier to identify margins, gaps, and competitive positions. 

Hover over Overlay & Label and enter an amount into the Market Price data field. The value will automatically use the units defined in your Preferences, so make sure you enter the market price using the same units.

Weighted Average displays the weighted average cash cost of the current custom market. Using this option, you can overlay a cost indicator on the graph that represents the weighted average for the products included in the report.

Hover over Overlay & Label, and click on Weighted Average - it will automatically overlay the weighted average Cost indicator to the graph, and clicking on Weighted Average again will remove the indicator from the graph.

Hover over Overlay & Label, click Demand and enter the market demand value you want to display on the graph. Note that the number should be in million ton(nes). Once applied, capacities that exceed the market demand are shown on the right side of the graph with a dark background, helping you quickly identify surplus capacity. Click Demand again to remove the demand indicator from the graph.

For each asset, the report shows:

Configuration: Indicates whether the mill or machine is integrated, semi‑integrated, non‑integrated, or recycled.

PM#: Shows the number of the specific paper machine or pulp dryer.

Capacity FST/D or FST/Y, FMT/D or FMT/Y: provides the machine’s production capacity in both daily and annual terms, depending on the preferred Units.

Cost Categories: Display the detailed breakdown of the major cost components per ton(ne) produced for Total Fiber, Chemicals (Chems), Energy Total, Fuel, Electricity (Elec), Labor Total, Labor Hourly, Labor Salary, Miscellaneous (Misc), Materials, in the preferred currency. If Show Fiber Breakout is selected, it will also break down cost for Wood (Natural Fiber) in case of integrated pulp, Market Pulp, Recycled Fiber in front of Total Fiber. If a destination is selected under Delivery Cost, the Delivery cost will show in the last column before the total Cash Cost. 

Cash Cost: The last column shows the machine’s total cash cost per unit of output, allowing users to compare cost competitiveness across all mills and machines in the market.

• Mill – when several products are included in the market.
• Company – when multiple mills, machines, and products are included.
• Grade – when several product grades are included.
• Product – when multiple products are included.
• World Region – when more than one world region is included.
• Region – when several countries or sub‑regions are included.
• Configuration – when several mill configuration types are included.

Each grouping displays the total capacity (per day and per year) for the selected category, in ascending or descending order (that you can sort alphabetically).

The example below, grouped by Region, illustrates the Data report for the North American market, showing Canadian mills first.

Selecting None will return you to the default, ungrouped view.

• Grade – when several product grades are included.
• Product – when multiple products are included.
• Company – when multiple mills, machines, and products are included.
• Mill Name – when several products are included in the market.
• World Region – when more than one world region is included.
• Region – when several countries or sub‑regions are included.

Select the grouping that you wish to use and click on Sort Table. Selecting None will take you back to the default setting.

In the data report, each grouping displays the total capacity (per day and per year), the average capacity as well as the minimum and maximum capacities for each category, in ascending or descending order (you can change the sorting with the up or down arrows on the right-hand side of the Sort By pop-over, see image above). 

To access these options, hover over Update Graph Format.

For more detailed explanations of each option, refer to Sort By option in the Direct Cost Curve Data Report section.

Report Options

Cost Date: Select a cost date from the dropdown to update the report. The selected cost date determines the cost values used for all machines and mills included in the report.

Currency: Use the currency option to define the currency in which cost values are displayed in both the table and the graph.

Delivered Cost: Allows you to select a delivery destination. If None is selected, delivered costs will not appear in the graph or the table.

Highlight: For details, see the How to highlight and label mills or companies article on the Fastmarkets support hub.

Compare Dates: The Compare Dates function allows to compare the cost during two different quarters. For more information go to the help article How can I compare the cost at two specific points in time? in the Fastmarkets Support hub.

There are various options of grouping, sorting or indicate by under Update Graph Format. For more detailed explanations of each option, refer to Sort By Options in the Direct Cost Curve Data Report section.

The bars representing the three different cost components are the cash cost for the lowest part, capital charges for the middle part and overhead/SG&A costs for the upper part. 

• Total Cost
• Cost Quartile
• Cash Cost
• Capital Cost
• SG&A / Overhead
• Capacity per day and per year

From this pop‑over, you can:

• Click View This Machine’s Cost Benchmark Report to access the detailed benchmark analysis.
• Click Mill Details to open the full Mill Details page for the selected mill.
• Label Machine to highlight it on your reports, or Remove Label to remove an existing label if it is already applied.

Click on the Actions button, then click Add Overlay Demand and enter the market demand value you want to display on the graph. Note that the value will need to be entered in million ton(nes). The value will automatically use the units defined in your Preferences. Once applied, capacities that exceed the market demand are shown on the right side of the graph with a dark background, helping you quickly identify surplus capacity. 

Clicking on Actions, then Remove Overlay Demand, will remove the demand indicator from the graph.

Overlay Market Prices allows you to display a price indicator for the selected products directly on the graph. This helps you visually compare market prices against mill or product costs, making it easier to identify margins, gaps, and competitive positions. 

Click on the Actions button, then click Add Overlay Market Prices, enter an amount into the Define Price data field, click the Show Price check box, then hit Overlay Price. The market price indicator will be added to the graph. The value will automatically use the units defined in your Preferences, so make sure you enter the market price using the same units.

Clicking on Actions, then Remove Overlay Market Prices will remove the indicator.

Overlay Weighted Average Cost displays the weighted average cash cost of the current custom market. Using this option, you can overlay a cost indicator on the graph that represents the weighted average for the products included in the report.

Click on the Actions button, then click Add Overlay Weighted Average Cost. The amount will be calculated automatically and display below Define Cost. Click the Show Cost check box, then hit Overlay Cost. The weighted average cost indicator will be added to the graph. The value will automatically use the currency defined in your Preferences.

Custom Market Reports - Total Cost Curve - Data

The Total Cost Curve Data report lists the machines and/or mills in the same order as in the graph view—ranked from the lowest‑cost to the highest‑cost machine or mill. Click on the Data tab to access the data report.