CANADIAN ECONOMY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 73, 15 January 1947, Page 5

CANADIAN ECONOMY

NEWSPRINT OCCUPIES FIRST PLACE DEMANDS UNABLE TO BE MET The newsprint industry has come to occupy a position in the economy of Eastern Canada, and especially in eastern export business, which makes newsprint to a considerable extent the counterpart of western wheat. Wheat and newsprint are the two giants of Canada’s export commerce. This year it happens that, in point of value, the export of newsprint is running at a level well above that for wheat. That is a sharp reversal of the position of a year ago.

Newsprint production for 1946 is expected" to exceed 4,000,000 tons, as compared with roundly 3,300,000 tons in 1945. This rise in output is, of course, directly reflected in the rise in exports because all but a very small percentage of the Canadian production goes to the export markets, mainly the United States. The export supply situation can be summed up very briefly. Despite the fact that the newsprint mills are operating at about 99 per cent, of their capacity, the industry is unable to meet present demands The pulp and paper industry as a whole, is the leading manufacturing industry in Canada. It stands first in employment, first in total wages paid, and first in value of exports. All along the line this industry, in its different sections, is unable to take advantage of all the export business that is offering. That is a situation that can be viewed without undue concern, in the light of the fact that the industry has made and is making such an impressive production record.