Squeeze

From the New York Herald Tribune:

FRANCE SEEKS

HELP TO REBUILD

MAGINOT LINE

Newspapers can expect cutbacks of from 5% to 15% in the amount of paper they want this year. One reason is that Britain has more dollars to spend on newsprint from Canada, chief supplier of U.S. newspapers. A bigger reason is that U.S. newspapers have got so fat that they are now using 60% of the total world supply, v. only 44% before the war. And they are getting fatter.*

Since the pinch will not hit everyone alike, most publishers can make up the shortage by cutting down on waste (e.g., printing too large a press run), which now takes some 5% of newsprint. Others will have to scramble in the tight spot market, where prices are already up to $200 a ton, v. $106 on long-term contracts. Contract prices themselves may be boosted.

*A paper like the Milwaukee Journal used about 60,000 tons of newsprint in 1950--equal to total supply of the entire press of India (pop. 346 million).

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