Newsprint price to reach year law

Newsprint price to reach year law

JAKARTA (JP): Producers and consumers of newsprint have agreed
to lower the price of paper by 12.4 percent, from Rp 1,774 (75
U.S. cents) to Rp 1,554 per kilogram, from July until September
this year.

"The agreement was reached at a meeting of the association of
of newspaper publishers, the association of Indonesian pulp and
paper producers (APKI) and three newsprint producers here on
Tuesday night," APKI's chairman, M. Mansur, was quoted as saying
by Republika yesterday.

Indonesia has three newsprint producers, state-owned PT Kertas
Leces in East Java and PT Aspex Paper and PT Gede Karang in West
Java.

This is the third newsprint price reduction since its Rp 2,310
per kilogram peak in the fourth quarter of 1995. It dropped to Rp
1,950 in the first quarter of 1996 and to Rp 1,774 in the second
quarter.

Quoting the director general of the agriculture and forestry
industry, Sujata, Republika said the declining price of newsprint
had been caused by falling secondhand newspaper prices overseas.

Old newspapers and pulp are used to manufacture newsprint.

"The current price of old newspaper on the international
market is between $150 and $170 per ton, much lower than between
$300 and $400 per ton earlier this year," Sujata said.

He said there was ample newsprint stock. Kertas Leces and
Aspex Paper currently produce 265,000 tons annually, while
domestic demand for newsprint is about 150,000 tons.

Gede Karang produces newsprint only for its business group
which publishes Pos Kota.(kod)