经济学人：报业与纸业
Newspapers - Paper Chase
刘立军 供稿
TRANSCRIPT
Business
Newspapers - Paper chase
Soaring newsprint costs make life even harder
“It’s like tasering an elderly person who’s already on a pacemaker,” says a British newspaper boss of the newsprint market, where prices have risen by over 50% in a matter of months. The cost of paper that feeds into presses around the world is rising to record highs, pushing up expenses for newspapers from Mumbai to Sydney. When times were good, before ads shifted online, newspapers had a supportive partnership with paper mills. As ads departed and circulations fell, relations became more transactional.
They are now at the shouting stage. Paper mills had the worst of it for years as newspapers reduced pagination, went wholly digital or shut for good. The papers were able to hammer down the cost of newsprint from firms fighting for business as demand declined. Price-taking paper mills suffered in silence. Many hesitated to shut massive machines costing hundreds of millions of dollars. That hesitance has disappeared; mills are taking out newsprint capacity and diversifying. Norske Skog, a Norwegian pulp and paper firm, said in June it would close its 66-year-old Tasman Mill in New Zealand, for example. Many mills are converting machines to make packaging for e-commerce. UPM, a Finnish firm, announced this year the sale of its Shotton newsprint mill in Wales to a Turkish maker of containerboard and packaging. For JCS Volga, a Russian mill, newsprint used to account for 70% of production; now half of what it makes is packaging. The mills “moved from being price-takers to being capable co-participants in a declining market,” says Tim Woods of IndustryEdge, a research firm for Australia and New Zealand’s forestry and paper industries.
The pandemic, with people working from home, meant even fewer newspaper purchases, which depressed demand for newsprint again and increased the pain for paper suppliers. In the past 24 months European mills have responded by shutting almost a fifth of their newsprint capacity, says a buyer for a large British newspaper group. Then economies reopened. Newsprint demand shot up. That, combined with much reduced capacity and coupled with soaring energy prices, has resulted in a price shock. Particularly controversial are energy surcharges that some paper suppliers are seeking to pass on. Newspaper firms reckon this amounts to breaking contracts. European newspapers will have to pay newsprint prices that are 50-70% higher in the first quarter of 2022 compared with the year before. As for their counterparts in Asia and Oceania, they are facing prices around 25% to 45% above their usual level. Kenya’s Nation Media Group is paying around $840 per tonne, compared with $600 at most in the past, says Dorine Ogolo, a procurement manager at the firm. North American prices went up earlier, and more gradually; contracts are fixed monthly rather than half-yearly. But there, too, newsprint prices are 20-30% higher in 2021 than in 2020. Germany’s print and media industry association has warned that mills are going to force newspapers to dump paper editions, hurting each other in the process. “It’s about the famous branch that both of them are sitting on,” it said recently. But mills can sell packaging instead. “We’re not going to save the publishing industry by being unprofitable ourselves,” says a mill executive in North America. For some publishers, price rises will wipe out profits. They will need to do further restructuring involving axing titles and layoffs. Iwan Le Moine of EMGE, a British paper-industry consultancy, expects a big increase in 2022 of the number of papers that shut compared with a typical year. That will lower demand and nudge the market back towards equilibrium. But newspapers will have more hard conversations about paper, full stop, says Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis, a research firm. More digital adrenaline is one possible riposte to the paper mills’ tasers.
VOCABULARY
1. newsprint n. the cheap paper that newspapers are printed on 新闻纸；白报纸
2. taser n. a gun that fires darts that give a person a small electric shock and makes them unable to move for a short time 电击枪（发射电脉冲，使人暂时不能动弹）
3. pacemaker n. an electronic device that is put inside a person's body to help their heart beat
regularly 心脏起搏器
4. pagination n. (technical 术语) the process of giving a page number to each page of a book; the
page numbers given 标页码；编页码；页码
5. procurement n. （不可数名词）(formal) the process of obtaining supplies of sth., especially for
a government or an organization （尤指为政府或机构）采购，购买
6. nudge v. to push sb./sth. gently or gradually in a particular direction （朝某方向）轻推，渐渐
推动
7. equilibrium n. a state of balance, especially between opposing forces or influences 平衡；均
衡；均势。We have achieved an equilibrium in the economy. 我们已在经济上达到平衡。
8. adrenaline n. （喻）刺激物; 激励因素
9. riposte n. a course of action that takes place in response to sth. that has happened 反应；回应
QUESTIONS
Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
1. The prices of British newsprint market have risen by over 50% in a matter of weeks.
2. The cost of paper that feeds into presses around the world is rising to record highs.
3. Norske Skog, a Norwegian pulp and paper firm, would close its 66-year-old Tasman Mill in Australia.
4. UPM, a Finnish firm, announced this year the sale of its Shotton newsprint mill in Wales to a Turkish maker of containerboard and packaging.
5. For JCS Volga, a Russian mill, newsprint used to account for 50% of production; now half of what it makes is packaging.
6. In the past 24 months European mills have responded by shutting almost a fifth of their newsprint capacity.
7. European newspapers will have to pay newsprint prices that are 50-70% higher in the first quarter of 2022 compared with the year before.
8. As for their counterparts in Asia and Oceania, they are facing prices around 35% to 45% above their usual level.
9. Kenya’s Nation Media Group is paying around $840 per tonne, compared with $600 at most in the past.
10. British’s print and media industry association has warned that mills are going to force newspapers to dump paper editions, hurting each other in the process.
KEY
Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
(F) 1. The prices of British newsprint market have risen by over 50% in a matter of weeks.（正确表达）The prices of British newsprint market have risen by over 50% in a matter of months.
(T) 2. The cost of paper that feeds into presses around the world is rising to record highs.
(F) 3. Norske Skog, a Norwegian pulp and paper firm, would close its 66-year-old Tasman Mill in Australia.（正确表达）Norske Skog, a Norwegian pulp and paper firm, would close its 66-year-old Tasman Mill in New Zealand.
(T) 4. UPM, a Finnish firm, announced this year the sale of its Shotton newsprint mill in Wales to a Turkish maker of containerboard and packaging.
(F) 5. For JCS Volga, a Russian mill, newsprint used to account for 50% of production; now half of what it makes is packaging. （正确表达）For JCS Volga, a Russian mill, newsprint used to account for 70% of production; now half of what it makes is packaging.
(T) 6. In the past 24 months European mills have responded by shutting almost a fifth of their newsprint capacity.
(T) 7. European newspapers will have to pay newsprint prices that are 50-70% higher in the first quarter of 2022 compared with the year before.
(F) 8. As for their counterparts in Asia and Oceania, they are facing prices around 35% to 45% above their usual level. （正确表达）As for their counterparts in Asia and Oceania, they are facing prices around 25% to 45% above their usual level.
(T) 9. Kenya’s Nation Media Group is paying around $840 per tonne, compared with $600 at most in the past.
(F) 10. British’s print and media industry association has warned that mills are going to force newspapers to dump paper editions, hurting each other in the process. （正确表达）Germany’s print and media industry association has warned that mills are going to force newspapers to dump paper editions, hurting each other in the process.
(封面图片来源于摄图网，版权归摄图网所有）