Paper Prices Could Rise Sharply Next Year

Printer ink firms could be set to pay considerably more for their paper next year.

According to PrintWeek, European paper mills are gearing up to implement double-digit price hikes in the new year – including a possible £50 per tonne increase for coated mechanical papers.

The proposed increases will be effective from January 1st 2011, and will only be "firm" until the end of March. An anonymous industry source told PrintWeek he had received letters from UPM that inferred the price increases would go ahead.

"The picture on price increases is complicated but most of the activity is focused on publication grades where, depending on the term of the agreement being renegotiated and the particular grade, increases vary from eight to 25 per cent," UPM general manager Will Oldham told the printing industry news service.

He added: "The price increases are out of kilter with the economy and mean that we can't budget for the magazines. The mills are blind to that and think that the market can withstand it."

In March this year, PrintWeek reported that mills would increase paper prices in the region of between eight and 12 per cent from April.

Posted by Canzil Ahmed.