general manager revealed yesterday.

"The Bermuda Sun price will increase and it will be directly linked to the rising cost of newsprint,'' said Mr. Randy French, managing director of the Bermuda Sun.

The price of a Bermuda Sun will rise on April 7.

Mr. French said it has not yet been determined how much the Sun's 55 cent cover price will increase nor have details about advertising rates been finalised, he continued.

"Traditionally advertising rates increase in May of each year and we will have a price increase in May,'' he said.

Mr. French said he did not know whether the rate increases would be affected by the increase in the price of newsprint.

The news comes on the heals of that publication raising its television guide price as well as the announcement last week that copies of The Royal Gazette and The Mid-Ocean News will jump five cents to 60 cents each in April and advertising will increase by an average about 2.5 percent.

Further details on Sun increases will be first announced in the Sun, added Mr.

French.

"Fortunately we are able to buy paper. I understand some US papers are not able to access paper,'' he said.

The Canadian Pulp and Paper Association has forecast world demand will increase by 2.7 percent annually while production will increase at 1.2 percent per year.

"The crunch is not easily resolved as paper mills that closed during the recession are not likely to reopen (to meet the demand),'' he added.

International paper supplier Abitibi-Price Inc., recently told newspaper publishers it would raise prices to about to $675 per metric ton as of May 1, up 65 percent on the $411 price a year ago.