Print spurs paper profit

08.11.39: THE DEMAND for printed works of all kinds has contributed to a worldwide scarcity of paper and a steep increase in its price.

The shortage is being exacerbated by the closure of mills in deference to the environmentalist lobby even as demand for paper continues to rise.

A communications expert said: "Information on paper tends to endure in a way that electronically stored information does not."

Tiny niche publishing houses proliferate as consumers demonstrate their appetite for beautiful books. Thomas A Kaplan of The Library, a chain of book galleries in New York, Beijing and London, said: "This is also about life and death. There is a demand for imagery and thought that can outlast the fleeting outpourings of electronic information."

He plans to expand his stock of newspapers and magazine