What in the World (ex North America) Is Happening to Newsprint?

摘要

From the North American perspective, newsprint's future as a viable (i.e., profitable) commodity product is subject to debate. North American demand peaked in 2000 at 13.2 million tonnes and then gradually fell year by year to 11.0 million tonnes in 2004. A further decline of 4-5% is expected for 2005. Reflecting this negative trend, capacity to produce newsprint has been scaled back by some 2.5 million tonnes (through a combination of closures and conversions to higher valued-added products) in thesame time-frame, with further reductions likely before year-end. Transaction prices have trended up since a cyclical low in 2002, but currently are not much better than they were 10 years ago. As a consequence, profitability has been minimal for most ofthe North American mills producing newsprint. Certainly not a pretty picture for North America: what is the market environment for newsprint in the rest of the world?