If you’re reading this in a printed newspaper, a perfect storm of problems is affecting both the price and availability of the very newsprint on which this newspaper is printed.

The problems have already begun changing the way in which we construct the newspaper.

Unfortunately, forces far beyond the control of The Natchez Democrat — or thousands of other community newspapers — are to blame. But how we must address these problems will be noticeable to readers and may include:

• Reducing the number of pages as a way of conserving newsprint. An example of that is seen in today’s edition. Typically, we have printed our Style and Business sections as separate sections. Today, we’ve merged the two together to reduce the number of pages we printed. We may further tighten page counts as necessary.
• Potentially higher subscription costs and reducing some of our deliveries to the outer-lying areas of our community are possible.
• Less non-local stories will likely be published. Although our staff will continue to work hard to produce local news, the amount of news and features from elsewhere will likely be reduced.
• Our staff will likely increasingly depend upon our website as a way to publish almost unlimited content.

So how did we wind up here?

Two reasons: one long in the making, the other recent.

Because of the struggles of big-city newspapers, newsprint consumption in America has decreased 75 percent over the past two decades. As demand dropped, many American newsprint mills closed or converted to making other paper products. Increasing demand from China for newsprint has also impacted the global supply.

Newsprint mills in neighboring Canada filled supply gaps as domestic production capacity dwindled. The result was market equilibrium and stable newsprint prices for much of the past decade — until last summer, when a small, hedge fund-owned newsprint mill in faraway Washington state caused a market jolt that no one saw coming.

North Pacific Paper Co., or NORPAC, complained to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission that Canadian producers were violating trade laws by receiving government loan assistance and harvesting trees on government land — advantages that allowed them to sell paper in the United States cheaper than American mills could. No other paper manufacturers have complained.

Pending results of an investigation that is ongoing, preliminary duties against Canadian producers of 7 percent to 10 percent began in January, followed by an additional 22 percent in March. Major newsprint makers, most of whom have mills in both countries, have announced major price increases in response.

For the record, The Natchez Democrat is printed almost entirely on paper made in Grenada, Miss.

Community newspapers like ours represent a sliver of newspaper demand. Despite still-healthy print readership, we alone cannot create enough demand to stimulate the U.S. newsprint market and bring shuttered mills back to life. Yet our need for newsprint to fulfill our obligation to readers is as enduring as that of The Washington Post or The New York Times.

How can you help? If you are so inclined, call Sen. Roger Wicker, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith or Rep. Gregg Harper and ask them to take a stand for community newspapers. You or I cannot express an opinion to the Department of Commerce or International Trade Commission, but senators and representatives can.

In the meantime, please bear with us as we work hard to make things operate in spite of two significant headwinds.

A few newspapers across the state have run out of newsprint and were dangerously close to not being able to print. Fortunately, they managed to purchase inventory from other nearby newspapers in order to keep printing.

We hope and pray we do not ever find ourselves in a situation in which we cannot print because we’re out of newsprint. If it happens, however, we will publish using our e-edition, which is a digital replica of the printed newspaper. If you’ve never looked at it, please give it a try. The cost is only $13.50 per month. It can be accessed from our website at natchezdemocrat.com or by calling our circulation office at 601-442-9101.

Thank you for your patience and your readership and happy Easter to all.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.