Where in the World Can New Brunswick Go?
To find new markets, we can start by following the lead of local sales pros who successfully sell newsprint to the world
God bless South Africa, India and Kenya; they’re still buying reams of newsprint.
Cumulatively, these three nations bought $25.5 million from New Brunswick in 2024, presumably from J.D. Irving’s paper mill in Saint John and exported from the Saint John Port aboard container ships that dock on the west side.
I’ve got a soft spot for newsprint, having grown up when reading the paper was a family affair. Newsprint gave me a career in journalism; it also created and continues to create community wherever it is in Canada and the world.
Stories on newsprint delivered to your door or purchased at the corner shop tell us what is happening within our boundaries. And, because we can’t pick and choose what we read, we read it all and in doing so, have an expanded and holistic sense of our community.
If today you were reading this column on newsprint rather than your phone or computer, you might have gotten to it by first reading the A1 election story about candidates in your ridings that continued on A7, where it sat beside the update on the annual hospital house lottery, which was above the photo and cutline of the Gr. 10 whiz kid showing their stuff at the upcoming regional science fair.
As for me, well, I’m over there on A8, running as a double column down the right side of the Opinions section, which rightfully follows rather than leads the news.
We need proper coverage of issues more than we need commentary.
As Canadians rush headlong into a national election (while the American government blithely upends global economic and security order), we should understand where things stand on the ground so we can better determine what we need as a country and what our strengths in the international market already show us.
For instance, newsprint is one of New Brunswick’s most diversified export products, by market reach.
In 2024, 47 countries bought New Brunswick-made newsprint, and while the United States was the top buyer at $30 million, it represents only about one-third of total global sales of $78.4 million.
The actual dollar figures may be low – newsprint sales are a fraction of other forestry products such as pulp, lumber, paper and diapers – but it travels to more places.
That’s worth noting as businesses and governments eagerly search for ways to quickly reduce dependency on the United States and its ‘Walls Up’ economic policies.
New Brunswick Newsprint Exports, by Continent and Revenue, 2024
Total global trade – $78.4 million
Total non-U.S. trade – $48.3 million
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