Several major Chinese newspapers in the country will increase their newsstand price by 10 sen to RM1.30 effective March 1.

Sin Chew Daily , the nation's largest Chinese newspaper, Guang Ming Daily and China Press will increase their price on the same day, according to well-informed industry sources.

However, there will be no price hike for another two Chinese dailies Nanyang Siang Pau and Oriental Daily News which are priced at RM1.20.

(There are two version of Guang Ming Daily - the Northern and Central version. The Northern version will remain at RM1.00 while the Central version will increase from RM0.80 to RM1.00)

Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily are owned by Sin Chew Media Corporation which is controlled by Sarawak timber tycoon Tiong Hiew King.

The China Press and Nanyang Siang Pau are owned by Nanyang Press Holding with Huaren Holdings, an investment arm of MCA, as the largest stake holder.

The Oriental Daily News is published by the KTS Group, owned by Tiong's business rival and Sarawakian tycoon Lau Hui Kang.

The RM1.00 newsstand price of the Kwong Wah Yit Poh , another influential Chinese paper in the north owned by the Boon Siew Group, will also remain.

Sharp decline

The sources said Nanyang has suffered a sharp decline in its readership since being taken over by MCA and thus has decided not to increase its price.

"Since Sin Chew and China Press are increasing their price, Nanyang hopes this will attract more readers who are not happy with the hike," they said.

According the 2003 second quarter media index survey by research firm AC Nielsen, Sin Chew Daily is way ahead of all the other Chinese newspapers with a readership of 977,000, followed by China Press (673,000), Guang Ming Daily (396,000), Nanyang Siang Pau (365,000) and Kwong Wah Yit Poh (268,000).

In a report by The Star earlier this week on the latest figures from AC Nielsen's survey between January and December 2004, Kwong Wah registered the biggest readership increase, 10,000 readers (3.8%) to 271,000, while China Press rose by 11,000 (1.5%) to 741,000 and Sin Chew Daily by 10,000 (0.9%) to 1,109,000, but Guang Ming Daily 's readership took a plunge, losing 34,000 (8.2%) to stay at 381,000.

Major Malay newspapers Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia had increased their newsstand price by RM0.30 to RM1.50 in January.

However, the newsstand price of the two major English newspaper - The Star and New Straits Times , remain unchanged at RM1.20.