Prices of waste newspapers fall drastically
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Jasim Uddin Haroon
Prices of waste newspapers fell drastically over the past one year due mainly to reduction in its use for recycling purposes and in the industrial sector.
A kilogramme of old newspapers is sold in the range between Tk 8.0 and Tk 10, which was Tk 18-Tk 20 a kg a year ago.
"The use of waste newspapers at paper mills and textile mills had fallen sharply over the past one year," said Shajahan Bhandari, president of Dhaka City Old Goods Merchants' Cooperative Society.
Shajahan said textile mills have reduced cut buying of waste newspapers mainly because of widespread uses of polythene.
Textile mills manufacturing sari and lungi now use small quantity of old newspapers although in the past they used them to keep their products in order and better looking.
"We used to supply at least five trucks of old newspapers each week to the textile mills. Now we supply only one truck a week," said Shajahan, who has more than 40 years of experience in old newspapers business.
Traders at the city's Nimtoli and Chhoto Katara, the city's two wholesale old papers markets, said many of them have stopped purchasing used newspapers following the drastic fall in its demand.
Borhan Uddin, a leading old newspaper trader, said: "I used to supply the used newspapers to the paper mills. Now at least two paper mills have stopped purchasing over the past few months."
Borhan, proprietor of Mahatab and Brothers, which buys old papers from the city's newspaper offices, said poor demand has pushed down its prices. "Poor demands have frustrated me like the city's more than several thousand vendors."
The low prices have also dismayed many families of middle and low-middle income groups.
Md Monir Uddin, a retired railway official at Gopibagh, said poor prices of old newspapers have frustrated him. "I have failed to sell old piled-up newspapers for four months due to the price fall."
"In the past, the sale proceeds from old newspapers helped me partly finance my monthly newspaper bills," he told the FE.
A senior official of Bashundhara Paper Mills also admitted that they were not buying the old newspapers that are not published from their own houses.
"We have stopped purchase of other newspapers as used papers published by others are of low quality that increases the production cost of pulp," said another senior official of the country's largest paper mill.
Prices of waste newspapers fell drastically over the past one year due mainly to reduction in its use for recycling purposes and in the industrial sector.
A kilogramme of old newspapers is sold in the range between Tk 8.0 and Tk 10, which was Tk 18-Tk 20 a kg a year ago.
"The use of waste newspapers at paper mills and textile mills had fallen sharply over the past one year," said Shajahan Bhandari, president of Dhaka City Old Goods Merchants' Cooperative Society.
Shajahan said textile mills have reduced cut buying of waste newspapers mainly because of widespread uses of polythene.
Textile mills manufacturing sari and lungi now use small quantity of old newspapers although in the past they used them to keep their products in order and better looking.
"We used to supply at least five trucks of old newspapers each week to the textile mills. Now we supply only one truck a week," said Shajahan, who has more than 40 years of experience in old newspapers business.
Traders at the city's Nimtoli and Chhoto Katara, the city's two wholesale old papers markets, said many of them have stopped purchasing used newspapers following the drastic fall in its demand.
Borhan Uddin, a leading old newspaper trader, said: "I used to supply the used newspapers to the paper mills. Now at least two paper mills have stopped purchasing over the past few months."
Borhan, proprietor of Mahatab and Brothers, which buys old papers from the city's newspaper offices, said poor demand has pushed down its prices. "Poor demands have frustrated me like the city's more than several thousand vendors."
The low prices have also dismayed many families of middle and low-middle income groups.
Md Monir Uddin, a retired railway official at Gopibagh, said poor prices of old newspapers have frustrated him. "I have failed to sell old piled-up newspapers for four months due to the price fall."
"In the past, the sale proceeds from old newspapers helped me partly finance my monthly newspaper bills," he told the FE.
A senior official of Bashundhara Paper Mills also admitted that they were not buying the old newspapers that are not published from their own houses.
"We have stopped purchase of other newspapers as used papers published by others are of low quality that increases the production cost of pulp," said another senior official of the country's largest paper mill.