Tasman to raise price of newsprint

Press, 28 June 1983, Page 8

Tasman to raise price of newsprint

PA Auckland The Tasman Pulp and Paper Company has been granted permission to increase the price of newsprint $4O a tonne, on the ground of hardship. Formal notification of the rise, which will take effect on Friday, was received by Tasman from the Trade and Industry Department yesterday. The company-had sought the increase under the hardship provisions after the Court of Appeal ruled three months ago that the rise was ruled out by the Price Freeze Regulations. Tasman’s chief executive, Mr Gary Mace, said last evening that, in spite of the rise, which will push the price up to $543 a tonne, the

company was still selling the newsprint at a substantial loss. "It is all we asked for, but that extra $4O would have been justified midway through last year.” The increase does not affect Tasman’s charges on the export market. In Australia, for example, the company fetches about $BOO a tonne. The chairman of the Newspaper Publishers’ Association’s paper committee, Mr H. M. Horton, said that the increase would cost publishers about another $4 million a year. He said the association was having talks with the department to see whether it could pass on the additional costs.