Contracts on newsprint prices mostly fixed in France

France is again among the markets in Europe where negotiations and contracts on the new prices for newsprint are at a relative advanced stage. At the end of January, the majority of respondents explained that their new contracts have been finalised and only isolated customers have not yet agreed on new contracts with their suppliers. In most cases, prices have been contractually fixed for six months, but in a small number of cases prices are valid for three months. While producers did not quite realise their goal of heaving prices to 2009 levels, they did manage to make some headway in compensating for the increase in production costs.