An Ailing Newsprint Industry - Another Headache for Printing/Writing Mills

摘要

The look of many printed products distributed in the United States has improved dramatically over the last couple of decades, and that trend could accelerate in the next several years. But that doesn't mean printing paper companies will be creating more value for shareholders - it just means the paper-makers at the bottom of the food chain will increasingly be squeezed out of many markets. The villain of the piece is overcapacity, both within North America and, to an extent, worldwide. Competition from new media is causing many print products to move over the hump and onto the downsides of their life-cycles, with declining paper usage — or, at the very least, decelerating consumption growth — the most prominent and painful symptom.