Hot Topic - newsprint

China And India Are The World’s Two Fastest Growing Print Newspaper Nations So Is It Any Surprise Their Newsprint Per Tonne Cost Has Soared? - May 2, 2008
China and India usually come at the top of most print newspaper circulation growth surveys but profitability, that may now be a different matter. The culprit -- newsprint pricing that has soared through the roof in both countries, accounting for more than 50% of the cost of producing their newspapers. In India it has gotten so bad that the government has stepped in to help a little by reducing the already low tariff for imported newsprint down to 3% from 5%.

As AbitibiBowater, North America’s Largest Newsprint Producer, Fights To Avoid Becoming Another Bear Stearns, Norway’s Norske Skog Announces More Cutbacks, US Newspaper Groups Brag At Huge Newsprint Usage Declines, And China Ramps up Newsprint Production and Exports - March 18, 2008
The merger of Abitibi and Bowater last October was supposed to form North America’s largest newsprint producer that could, with the cost savings a merger between two such giants should produce, finally get the upper hand on production and pricing. Instead its shares are down nearly 70% so far this year, off 15% alone on Monday because the markets don’t think its recently announced $1.4 billion refinancing plan will fly.

Norske Plans A Big Newsprint Production Cut In Europe and AbitibiBowater Announces Huge Cuts in North America And There’s Consolidation Galore -- The Perfect Recipe For Higher Newsprint Prices - December 6, 2007
One saving grace for North American newspapers is that newsprint pricing actually dipped in 2007 but those days are now over. Price increases have already been announced and production is being cut on both sides of the Atlantic.

The New York Times Narrows Its Page Width to Save $10 million Annually, The Orange County Register Reduces Its News Hole, US Newsprint Consumption is Down 11.1% This Year And Newsprint Producers Continue To Report Losses – The Right Scenario For A Price Increase? - August 8, 2007
Just this week alone the New York Times has started producing a narrower newspaper and the total news hole is down, The Orange County Register in California is laying off people and has announced it’s reducing the news hole, and similar announcements seem to come with great regularity so is this the right time for the newsprint industry to try to impose rate increases?

Newsprint Savings Were The One Joy Among All Those Bleak Q1 Newspaper Earnings Reports As Lower Consumption Bites Into Cost Along With Softer Pricing - April 25, 2007
Narrowing pages, restricting circulation areas, reducing bulk sales, banning pages of financial tables and TV listings to the Internet, and generally falling circulations have bit strongly into US newsprint consumption, with those savings about the only bright spot in newspaper Q1 earnings reports.

With China Expected To Deliver 75,000 Tons of Newsprint to the US in 2007, and With Economies Having Already Cut US Newsprint Usage By 6.6% This Year, The Laws Of Supply And Demand Are Finally Favoring Publishers - December 14, 2006
The relationship between newspapers and their newsprint suppliers has never been a love affair. No matter what publishers did in the past to cut back on their newsprint usage to save costs the producers would go and close down a newsprint paper mill or two to reduce supply and the laws of supply and demand put publishers right back where they were. But this year is different.

Free Newspapers - ftm Knowledge file

The free newspaper phenomenon is rocking media landscapes across the world. This ftm Knowledge file looks at publishers and their battles in the UK, Europe and the US. Includes data on the successes and weaknesses. 65 pages PDF (August 2007)

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The State of the Print Media in the World

ftm reports on the World Association of Newspapers Congresses. Includes WAN readership studies, African media and journalism, Russian media and Russian politics, press freedom. 82 pages. PDF file (August 2007)

Free to ftm members and others from €39
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