Papers face print cost surge

By Lachlan Ellis

Australian newspapers are facing a hike of up to 80 per cent in printing costs, with fears of jobs being lost and papers closing under the financial burden.

Norwegian-owned Norske Skog is the only manufacturer of newsprint and magazine-grade paper in Australia, and closed its Albury and New Zealand mills in 2019 and 2021 respectively, with the New Zealand closure “a process made necessary by the secular decline of the publication paper industry and the impact of COVID-19”.

This leaves just one mill for newsprint in Australasia, Norske Skog’s Boyer mill in northern Tasmania.

Andrew Manuel is President of Country Press Australia (CPA), which represents over 250 regional media outlets from across the country.

He said Norske Skog had not been profitable in Australasia for some time, but the amount that printing costs is set to jump came as a shock.

“It’s definitely a surprise. We were told at the start of the year there’d be price increases, so we’ve been bracing for that…but a double-digit price rise, in any industry, is drastic,” Mr Manuel told the Moorabool News.

“There’s been a reduction in need for newsprint during the COVID pandemic, and obviously there’s a digital transformation happening. Norske Skog have told us they haven’t been making money from newsprint in Australia, so they’re now trying to do that by lifting prices from July 1.

“It’s going to mean different things for different publishers. It’s obviously going to mean they’ll need to find money to pay for this rise…the price of advertising may need to increase, cover prices may need to increase, and business models may need to change.”

Mr Manuel said the hardest thing for newspapers was the uncertainty of the price jump.

“Some publishers have seen a 20 or 30 per cent increase already this year, and don’t have a [printing] contract from July 1. And like any business, if a cost jumps up 80 per cent in three months’ time…it’s kind of like the fuel crisis, when fuel went up to $2.50 overnight and everyone panicked,” he said.

“If papers are only just viable now, and now they have this pressure increase, we might say more closures. The biggest concern we’ve heard from CPA members is the unknown, people want to know what’s going on.”

CPA is lobbying the federal government to provide emergency funding for newspapers, to help them weather the price rise.

To read the full story – Simply click on the following link

https://issuu.com/themooraboolnews/docs/mn_2022-05-10/12

in the 10 May 2022 edition
OR
pick up a paper around your town.