Ample newsprint supply coupled with thin demand pressured Asian newsprint prices lower in the week to Tuesday, traders said. Aside from some spot buying, Asian newsprint prices are fixed on a quarterly basis via negotiations between buyers and suppliers. Although newsprint suppliers said first quarter prices are unchanged from the level posted in the fourth quarter of last year, trade participants said actual transacted prices are lower. For the fourth quarter of 2002, newsprint prices were pegged around $410-$470 a metric ton, cost and freight to main Asian ports. But market participants said actual traded prices range from $380-$440/ton, C&F Asian ports, for first quarter shipment. "The market is as flat as a pancake. No one is buying," one Singapore-based trader said. As economies in Asia remain sluggish, newspapers have to contend with decreased advertising revenues. Less advertising placements mean reduced newspaper pages and weak newsprint demand. Compounding matters is the inflow of cheap European newsprint, which Asian-based traders said is pushing up the already big surplus in the region. European newsprint producers are selling to Asia, as European newspapers are also being hit with declining advertising revenues. But one Bangkok-based trader is hoping that a new business-oriented broadsheet recently launched by a major Thai publisher would at least boost sentiment in the Thai newsprint market.