By: Forrest R. Church, Publisher
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Community newspapers across the country are bracing for yet another round of newsprint price increases as a wave of paper mill closures across North America continues to squeeze supply and drive up costs.
Effective March 1, newsprint and high-brightness paper mills have announced new price increases, with suppliers reporting an overall average increase of 2.6 percent.
The increases apply to all orders shipping on or after that date, and publishers are being advised to place paper orders at least eight weeks in advance of requested delivery dates due to extended lead times.
The latest round of increases is driven by a sharp tightening of the North American newsprint market following a string of four major mill closures in just over a year.
Irving closed its St. John mill in February 2025. Domtar shuttered its Grenada mill in September 2025. White Birch closed its F.F. Soucy mill in January 2026. And Thunder Bay is expected to close its newsprint mill by the end of the first quarter of 2026.
Together, those four closures have removed an estimated 726,000 metric tons of production capacity from the North American market. The Thunder Bay closure, in particular, has caused what industry insiders describe as a sudden tightening in available supply.
For community newspapers like The Village Reporter, which operate on thin margins, every increase in the cost of newsprint puts additional pressure on an already challenging business environment.
Newsprint is one of the largest operating expenses for print publications, and repeated price hikes over the past several years have forced publishers to make difficult decisions about page counts, subscription rates, and advertising pricing.
This is far from the first time publishers have had to absorb rising paper costs. Numerous newsprint price increases have been passed along over the years, many of them driven by tariffs imposed on Canadian newsprint imports.
Adding to the financial strain, the United States Postal Service has increased periodical mailing permit rates six times in recent years.
For newspapers that rely on the mail to reach subscribers, the combination of rising newsprint costs and repeated postal rate hikes creates a compounding effect that threatens the viability of print journalism at the local level.
The closures reflect a broader trend in the paper industry as declining demand for newsprint — driven by the long-term shift from print to digital media — has made it increasingly difficult for mills to operate profitably.
However, as capacity shrinks, the remaining demand from newspapers and commercial printers is being met by fewer and fewer suppliers, creating a supply-demand imbalance that pushes prices higher.
The Village Reporter remains committed to delivering a printed newspaper to its readers each week and will continue to monitor developments in the newsprint market.