The Press: Begin the Bagasse

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U.S. publishers, whose presses gobble up 6,000,000 tons of newsprint a year, have choked every time Canadian paper mills hiked the price. Last week, with Canadian newsprint selling for $126 a ton, more than twice the 1945 price, the publishers heard good news about a possible cheaper substitute. In New Orleans, Valentine Pulp & Paper Co. announced that it would build a $2,633,000 mill at Lockport, La. to make newsprint from bagasse, a waste fiber left after grinding sugar cane. In a year, Valentine expects to be turning out 50 tons a day, get other companies interested in the process.

Newspapers such as the New Orleans States, Thibodaux, La. Lafourche Comet, and Opelousas, La. Daily World, which experimented with bagasse paper, say it is whiter and stronger than Canadian newsprint. Nobody really thought bagasse would ever take over the Canadian mills' U.S. markets. But publishers hoped that the threat of bagasse competition would keep Canadian prices in line.