NSK News Bulletin Online
Feb. 2003
Newsprint Demand and Supply for 2002
The NSK management affairs department has recently released the results of its 2002 annual survey on newsprint demand and supply.
(Supply)
Domestic production of newsprint by Japanese makers in 2002 was up 2.7 percent over 2001, at 3,936,058 tons. Combined with imports from foreign paper companies and via trading firms totaling 50,892 tons (down 16.5 percent), aggregate supply grew 2.4 percent to 3,986,950 tons in an eighth straight annual increase.
(Demand)
Newsprint consumption by Japanese newspaper companies dipped 0.9 percent in the same period, totaling 3,701,356 tons, in the first annual decrease in three years. Consumption was divided into 3,650,464 tons of domestic newsprint (down 0.7 percent), and the 50,892 tons of imported newsprint. Despite the lower domestic consumption, exports of made-in-Japan newsprint to Asia, mainly China, surged 62.4 percent to 275,297 tons. As a result, the total demand for domestic-produced newsprint grew 1.8 percent to 3,976,653 tons, marking an eighth straight annual increase.
Newsprint stockpiled by domestic makers as of the end of 2002 totaled 346,122 tons, the equivalent of 31.3 days of consumption.
A monthly breakdown shows that domestic consumption of newsprint fell, year-to-year, for nine months in 2002, with rises of 0.6 percent in February, 1.8 percent in June and 0.3 percent in October.
The monthly increases were attributed to the extra editions issued for the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in February, soccer's World Cup in June and the return from North Korea of five abducted Japanese in October. But the increases in those three months were insufficient to bring the yearly total above that of 2001.
Reflecting the weakness of the Japanese economy, monthly advertising orders from businesses have continued to fall, year-on-year, since September, contributing to the decline in newsprint consumption.
By type, super-light (SL) newsprint, at 43 grams per square meter, accounts for 90.5 percent of consumption by Japanese newspaper companies. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nikkei, has begun using ultra-super-light (USL) newsprint, at only 40 grams per square meter, in October 2000. This type of newsprint accounted for 5.9 percent of newsprint use in 2001.
Domestic Consumption of Newsprint Projected to Dip 0.3% in 2003
The Japan Paper Association, representing Japan's domestic paper makers, predicted on Jan. 20 that 2003 domestic demand for newsprint will fall 0.3 percent below that of 2002.
The association based its prediction on:
1) Expectations that circulation will fall marginally due to an expected drop in the circulation of evening editions despite the expectation that the circulation of morning editions will remain unchanged;
2) Anticipation that total page counts will stay flat while orders for advertisements remain flat or decline; and
3) A relative lack of scheduled major news and sporting events for 2003, with the exception of nationwide local elections in April.
The association predicted that the total demand for paper in 2002 will fall 0.1 percent.
5 European Journalists on NSK Fellowship
Five journalists from European countries are participating in the 24th Japan-Europe Fellowship Program for Journalists, which began on Feb. 2 under the sponsorship of NSK. The participants are from Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland.
They are to speak with Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima about Japanese foreign policy, and to hear from academicians and other experts about the state of the Japanese economy, Japanese culture and other subjects. They are also due to visit the National Diet, the Japan Newspaper Museum and other sites.
The journalists will later travel to Hiroshima to visit the Chugoku Shimbun and to tour Yakushima Island and Kyoto. Upon returning to Tokyo, they plan to conduct individual reporting before leaving Japan on Feb. 28.
The Japan-Europe Journalists Fellowship Program, which was established in 1974, has come to an end with this year's program. NSK's European partner for the joint program, the Journalists in Europe, ended its activities last year, due to a suspension of financial assistance from the European Union.
NSK intends to continue a similar exchange program and is currently looking for a new European partner organization.
The participants in this year's program are, from the left,
Ms. Anu SILFVERBERG
Freelance journalist(Finland)
Ms. Evridiki BERSI
Writer, Foreign desk /Kathimerini Daily Newspaper (Athens, Greece)
Ms. Aideen SHEEHAN
Correspondent, Newsdesk/Independent Newspapers Ireland(Dublin, Ireland)
Mr. Alessandro GORI
Freelance journalist(Italy)
Mr. Dominik FELDGES
Editor, International news section/Finanz und Wirtschaft(Zurich, Switzerland)
"Sept. 11 Photo Exhibition" to Close at Newspark
The special photo exhibition "Here Is New York - September 11 As Seen by Citizens," that opened at the Japan Newspaper Museum in Yokohama City on Dec. 25, is to close on Feb. 16.
The exhibition, sponsored by the Japan Newspaper Museum, the Asahi Shimbun and the charity group "here is new york," has drawn a large audience of some 7000.
The group "here is new york" has been soliciting photographs related to the attacks on New York on Sept. 11, 2001, selling the contributed photos and donating the proceeds to the families of people who died in the attacks.
The display includes about 500 photographs, ranging from photos of stunned people standing covered in dust to firefighters engaged in rescue operations amid the debris of the collapsed World Trade Center buildings -- all of which capture visitors' attention with their overwhelming impact.
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Miyazaki Nichi-Nichi Shimbun Factory Starts Full Operations
Miyazaki Nichi-Nichi Shimbun's new printing headquarters, the Sadohara Center, was completed and began full operations for this year's Jan. 1 issue. The factory in the town of Sadohara, north of Miyazaki City, has a total floor space of about 7,000 square meters.
The factory is equipped with two sets of the Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho Color-Top CT6200 offset rotary press. The factory can print 150,000 copies per hour.
The newspaper is now capable of printing up to 32 pages, including 16 color pages. It had previously been able to print 32 pages, with only 8 in color. The factory is now printing 240,000 copies of the company's morning edition.
To support the newspaper-in-education (NIE) drive, the factory invites visitors to drop in and observe the printing process.
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The Miyazaki Nichi-Nichi Shimbun is based in Miyazaki city, Miyazaki Prefecture, where it publishes daily morning newspaper with a circulation of about 240,000. |
NHK Archive Opens in Kawaguchi City
The NHK Archive of Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) opened to the public on Feb. 1 in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture. The facility is aimed at preserving in digital form about 590,000 of the 730,000 news and program recordings in NHK's possession.
Local NHK broadcasting stations can retrieve archive data online, file orders and receive media transmissions via privately leased lines so that the valuable assets can be made use of in future program production. The facility also provides free-of-charge public access to the Public Program Library.
The NHK Archive is an eight-story structure with a total floor space of 10,845 square meters. Construction cost about 7.8 billion yen. The archive comprises the Images Storage House, the Database Library, the Public Program Library and other facilities.
The archive was built to:
1) preserve the massive programming assets of NHK as cultural assets to be shared by the nation;
2) utilize the stock programming for future production; and to
3) operate the public library and promote other public-interest undertakings for society at large.
The integrated database at the core of the Archive contains conventional written information and data in writing, image information and copyright data.
There are a total of 80 monitor terminals at the Public Program Library that visitors can use to view or listen to about 20,000 programs on demand.
Kyushu Press Photographers Association Award for 2002
 The Kyushu Press Photographers Association on Feb. 2 announced the winner of its 2002 annual award.
The image, "A Luxury Liner On Fire," was captured by a Nagasaki Shimbun photographer when the "Diamond Princess," which was close to completion at a Nagasaki shipyard, caught fire and was heavily damaged in October.
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CTP Adoption by Japanese Newspaper Companies
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The computer-to-plate (CTP) system has been widely adopted by newspaper companies in the United States and Europe. It allows direct output of page data stored in computers into plates for rotary presses.
In Japan, an increasing number of newspaper companies are adopting the CTP system and this year will see even broader acceptance.
The number of newspaper companies adopting CTP has risen markedly in recent years, especially in Europe. According statistics from the world's leading association for media publishing, Ifra, as of April 2002, a total of 1,102 CTP systems were in use worldwide , 795 of them in Europe.
For many foreign newspaper companies, adopting The computerized typesetting system (CTS) means introducing both the equipment and the software for the system.
Most Japanese newspaper companies have saved on labor by introducing a computer-to-film (CTF) system. But foreign newspaper firms have saved far more in labor costs by going straight to a full CTP system.
In Europe, it is common for newspaper companies to own a smaller number of presses and to conventionally produce only one or two plates from one film. The higher unit price of a CTF plate therefore does not cost too much.
On the other hand, Japanese newspaper companies have a larger number of presses and produce several plates from one film. As it takes much longer for a CTP system to produce a plate, the adoption of CTP has been delayed. But that bottleneck is now being eliminated by improvements to CTP systems.
The Asahi Shimbun's development of prototype equipment in 1989 and of an operational system in 1992 marked major breakthroughs in CTS development. The Nikkei Shimbun followed by developing an operations CTP system that it phased in at its four factories.
The CTP systems developed by Asahi and Nikkei use The organic photoconductor (OPC) plates that require a wider space. But the later development of materials for easier-to-handle CTS plates brought an end to the adoption of CTP systems using OPC plates.
In 2001, the Kochi Shimbun and the Shinano-Mainichi Shimbun introduced CTP systems using silver-halide plates and photopolymer plates, respectively. These two types of CTP plates hold a dominant share of the global market.
The Yomiuri Shimbun plans to generally adopt CTP using thermal plates and put such systems into operation at some factories in the fall of 2002.
Since the introduction of CTP at the Kochi Shimbun, all newspaper companies using CTP systems have realized the longstanding dream of printing two-page spreads from a single plate called the double-truck plate 2L2W.
In terms of numbers of CTP systems, Japan lags behind Europe and the U.S. But the output capacity of CTP systems has dramatically improved, resulting in a gradual reduction of costs. It is therefore likely that in coming years, there will be great strides made in the adoption and standardization of CTP.
As for the materials used for CTP plates, new systems using conventional and less-costly The pre-sensitized (PS) plates, in addition to silver-halide or photopolymer plates, are now starting to be adopted in Europe. A cheaper and longer-life violet-laser plate with a higher processing capacity is now being developed. Further development and competition among the different types of plates will help to cut costs for materials.
In view of these continuing developments, many Japanese newspaper companies will be replacing their CTF systems with CTP systems in phases, when they replace plotters and plate-making machines, or when they build new printing facilities. It also appears certain that the adoption of CTP will accelerate in line with the recent standardization of digital transmissions of advertisement materials.
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Nihon Shinbun Kyokai
The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association
Nippon Press Center Bldg., 2-2-1 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo100-8543, Japan
bulletin@pressnet.or.jp.
Copyright 2003 Nihon Shinbun Kyokai
All right reserved
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