The Markets
(Special to Pulp & Paper Magazine.)
CANADIAN MARKETS
The news print situation is now the livest subject among the trade and the seriousness of conditions is being brought home to publishers as never before. The mills are not as alleged by some responsible for it all. While the war is unjustly charged with many ills in the way of trade disturbances, to attribute the present state of affairs entirely to the hostilities in Europe is quite correct, so far as Canada is concerned. Hundreds of men have joined the colors leaving most of the plants short of help and owing to abnormal demand and the embargoes which prevail, abroad—all due to the war,—there is not enough of that very necessity commodity—white paper—to go around. This in brief is, the exact state of affairs. In the past Canadian mills were looking for a market for their surplus product and were glad to make contracts covering a long period of time. News print was looked upon as staple and the variation in price from year to year was small indeed. Now the manufacturers do not know which way to turn. They could sell as much again as they are marketing if they had the productive facilities but of late months they have not been able to “pile up reserves”, as the banks state, and the stocks on hand are rapidly diminishing.
The average publisher has read a great deal about this condition of affairs but as there have been so many extravagant reports in all lines prevailing during this stirring period, he did not think there was much truth in the statement. It was only when the newspaper men tried to renew contracts that he realized for the first time he was face to face with a situation such as he has never been up against. There is no use blaming it on the mills. They have done the best they could under most trying circumstances. They are running their plants to full capacity and they have not unduly taken advantage of the situation to boost prices in Canada. The increase asked is infinitesimal to what the makers can obtain for their product on the other side.
The story is going the rounds, and so far has not been denied, that one of the big new plants of Canada was approached by American interests who offered to take the whole of its output for the coming year at four and a half one cents at the mill but the proposition flattering as it was, was turned down as the firm would not under any circumstances break faith with Canadian customers. Some sixty per cent. of the large newspapers whose contracts are now being carried until the end of the year and will have to be renewed are on the anxious seat.
A special meeting of the Canadian Press Association was held in Toronto last week at which there was a large attendance. The situation was thoroughly gone into. The statement was made that the output in Canada is now some eighteen hundred tons a day, yet only one sixth is consumed in the Dominion, the bulk of the product being exported to the United States. A deputation was sent to Ottawa to interview the Minister of Finance, Sir Thomas White. There representatives of the pulp and paper interest were also assembled and the whole situation was gone thoroughly into. The result was that an offer was made by the news print makers of three cents, f.o.b. mill. This applies to large contracts and on smaller the figures may be higher. It was pointed out by the paper manufacturers, that everything entering into the production of news print has gone up from 25 to four hundred per cent. and that labor has advanced about twenty-five per cent.