Newsprint: China brings prices down, domestic industry unhappy

Business Standard reports

Newsprint prices in the domestic market have declined by 4 to 5 per cent over the last three months on account of cheaper Chinese imports and falling international prices.
.
.
"The primary cause for declining newsprint prices could be huge stock with big publications or indiscriminate imports, particularly from China," said Raji Philip, president of the Indian Newsprint Manufacturers' Association and chairman and managing director of Hindustan Paper Corporation.
.
According to Philip, newsprint consumption in the country is around 14 lakh tonne, while the production is about 8 lakh tonne. The excess domestic demand is met through imports from Canada, Russia, China and some other countries.

Big domestic newsprint players have lined up capacity additions and the dependence on imports was set to go down. Excessive dependence on imports would be self-defeating for the domestic industry, he said.