In 1937, the Scandinavian countries exported over $200 million in forest products to the United Kingdom. About one-half of this was wood and timber an the other half pulp and paper. Finland alone shipped about $50 million of wood and $35 million of pulp and paper to Britain, With the country engaged in a bitter war, these exports are bound to be effected and, if mobilization of men continues to spread, the ability of Scandinavian countries to maintain export shipments will be restricted, The average newsprint mill in Canada can produce and lay down paper in New York for a total cost of $40 when operations are around 70 per cent, of capacity. This means that the profit per ton on newsprint should be about $14.
On the basis of this profit margin, most Canadian newsprint companies should be able io show earnings equivalent to about 20 per cent. on the present market prices of the more popular securities, Meanwhile, there is the possibility that Scandinavian exports of newsprint will be curtailed, Actually, this would not create any scarcity of paper in the United States as American publishers buy about ten times as much newsprint from Canada as from the Scandinavian countries. But the psychological effect is more substantial as the threat of increased European imports cannot be used by publishers in their bargaining with Canadian producers, Now that Finland is mobilized and engaged in war, American imports of newsprint from that country will probably dry up completely,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.