When the Kawerau paper mill closed last year, it left newspaper publishers here without a local source of newsprint. And as The Detail finds out, it's beginning to cause headaches.
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Not so long ago the delivery of newsprint was a sure thing for local newspaper publishers. Now they're facing a price shock that could send some of them to the wall – with free community papers likely to be the first to go.
"It got delivered to our door. It was as easy as it could be," says Aaron Buist, chief executive of Beacon Media Group in Whakatāne.
All that changed when Norske Skog's paper mill in Kawerau closed last year, and publishers had to go offshore – to Norske Skog's Tasmania mill – for their paper. They got a real taste of the supply crisis that's hit newspaper businesses around the world, sending costs soaring.
And things are about to get more complicated. Under the current arrangement, Norske Skog is responsible for deliveries to the printing plants. But from 1 July, the printers will have to pick up the paper themselves from the port.
"That will be my job," says Buist.
"As a printer, I will be receiving the containers, getting them cleared off, getting them unloaded, getting them put onto a truck and delivered to my site."
Buist explains to The Detail why the new arrangement means the price his company pays for newsprint could double in just 12 months and why free community papers are at greatest risk.
"This is the real concern to me. You're now potentially depriving communities of what I think is a critical window of what's going on in their community."
Covid-19-related shipping woes aren't entirely to blame. Mills were closing or converting before that, causing a global paper shortage.
Instead of producing newsprint, mills are making packaging for the likes of Amazon, Buist says.
"We've had it pretty good for a very long time and now things are changing dramatically."
Adding to the financial burden for publishers is the need to hold more paper on-site due to supply uncertainty.
"Now I'm typically holding between one and two months of stock and if I can, I'll probably be looking to try and hold a little more. That's a lot of money tied up in stock sitting in our warehouses."
It also means Beacon Media may have to turn away new business, because it only has enough stock for existing customers.
Buist says he's starting to prepare customers for the looming cost rises and one of its own mastheads could be affected.
The King Country News is a free weekly community paper delivered to 10,000 letter boxes around the area.
Buist says they're not "actively considering" cutting back on printing and distribution, "but it's something we'll have to be mindful of as prices start to bite".
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