The Newsprint Division operates a mill in Garfield, New Jersey, with an annual capacity of 242,000 short tons. It also has a 33 percent interest in SP Newsprint Company, which runs mills in Dublin, Georgia, and Newberg, Oregon, with a combined annual capacity of 960,000 short tons. The Newsprint Division suffered quite a setback in 1999.
Newsprint is increasingly a global commodity.
There were two major labor strikes in Canada in 1998, and those mills came back into production by December 1998. Consequently, there was a dramatic increase in the amount of newsprint that was available in early 1999 as those mills sought to regain the market share they had lost. We also continued to see lingering effects from the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Reduced demand for newsprint in Asia increased the newsprint supply in North America. In addition, more newsprint manufacturing capacity came on line in Asia, and some of that newsprint found its way into the United States.