Print media in a bind

The newspapers are under tremendous pressure to bear the cost of imported newsprint. A combination of circumstances have compounded the problem. One is the inability of our newsprint industry to meet local demands, which compels newsprint import in an environment which is captive to the exporters, the price of this commodity having gone up manifold in the last several years, with its spiraling tendency unabated.

The point at issue here is the increase in newsprint tariff over and above the increase of its price in the international market in the last fiscal year. This, with other associated taxes, an additional 60 percent has to be paid by the importers on the C&F price of the newsprint. The tax exemption that is provided to the newspapers on the 50 percent import quota of newspapers based on the statistics of the Audit Bureau of Circulation has not helped to mitigate the problem since the local producers are unable to meet our demands for newsprint. The quality of the locally produced newsprint is also not upto the required standard. This is a most difficult situation for the newspaper industry

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The tariff rates of news prints in India and Pakistan are in the region of 5 percent ad valorem and, in spite of their producing adequate quantity of it locally, the interest of the newspaper industry has been upheld by keeping tariff on news print at a low level.

The high cost of newsprint has inevitably pushed up the cost of production of newspapers. And, the newspaper industry, unlike the other commodity or service sectors, cannot transfer the extra cost to the readers because of the purchasing capacity of the general readers.

While the government can do very little about price of newsprint in the international market, we would hope, for the sake of the readership as well as the newspaper industry, that the government would consider reduction of the high tariff rates of imported newsprint.