Recent reports from the printing committee of China Press Association confirmed the continuous declines of the country's hard copy newspaper publication business. Results of a survey conducted by the Committee on 152 newspaper publishers showed a -12.92% drop from 2019 in the total folio prints, which fell to 39.77 billion in 2020. Based on the survey, it was estimated that overall folio prints of the country shrank to 60 billion in 2020, down 8.9 billion or -12.92% from 2019, which was more than the -11.75% erosion of 2019 over 2018. Since 1994, the Committee has been monitoring developments of national newspaper printing. From its historical height at 167.8 billion in 2011, the folio prints began to fall consecutively for nine years thereafter, according to the Committee.

Along with the negative developments in newspaper business, China's newsprint production also stayed on the downhill road. In 2020, total output fell to 1 million/mt, -19.05% year-on-year. And there are now only 3 consistent producers in the country contributing more than 90% of the output. In spite of the demand recovery from the 2nd half of 2020 after the pandemic hit, which encouraged China's newsprint imports to a full year total of 654,300/mt, jumping +42.1% from that of 2019, the country's newsprint consumption, however, reduced to 1.35 million/mt in 2020, -12.90% from the 1.55 million/mt in 2019, which also deepened the drop of -11.93% in 2019 over 2018. Falling demand drove price of newsprint down from its peak at RMB6,500/mt in late 2018 to the RMB5,200/mt range by end-2020.

With more business closure or suspension of newspaper publishers under growing challenges from online media, market analysts expect that newspaper printing business will continue its decline in 2021. However, rate of decline may be narrowed and returned to single digits as a series of social and political events during the year may demand more newspaper pages, printing and publication. Still, it is unlikely that newspaper business and newsprint price will be able to present the glory in their good old days.