Newsprint Prices Rise 5%: Most North American...

Newsprint Prices Rise 5%: Most North American newsprint producers this month raised prices about 5%, the first broad hike in more than two years, but buyers say they will resist paying it because of plentiful supplies. Industry analysts and purchasers say the $35 increase, which raised the benchmark eastern U.S. list price to $685 a metric ton, hinges mainly on whether labor negotiations are settled at paper mills in eastern Canada. Producers say the hike is overdue because of decling profits. Newspaper companies have been stockpiling inventories in anticapation of a possible Canadian mill workers strike.