I haven’t talked much about the Post’s earnings or circulation figures in a while, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I don’t want to get caught accidentally revealing more than I should when the figures come out, although they are public knowledge. More than that, though, the main reason is that they’ve been pretty consistent of late: both are down and keep heading that way.
Now I’m certainly a big believer in the future of the online newsroom (you think?), but I personally think it’s going to be a while before we make up the majority of WPO’s news income. So the newspaper side is still going to have to play a part for years to come, even though the trends are all on the down side for now.
Oh well. At least there’s one bright spot, if you want to call it that:
With Chinese mills efficiently cranking out more print than can be used in their country, their output is expected to begin landing on the West Coast within a matter of months, according to Mark Wilde of Deutsche Bank and other industry analysts.
“The Chinese won’t just come in $5 to $10 per metric ton below the market,” says Mark. “They could come in $25 to $50 below market to buy themselves volume.”
At that rate, the price for newsprint could drop as low as $620 per ton next year, delivering a savings of approximately $450,000,000 to the industry, assuming that consumption remains near the estimated 9 million metric tons expected to be purchased this year.
Thankfully, bits are cheaper.
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