This week’s news that paper prices are rising again was accompanied by the almost inevitable refrain that mills’ production costs have gone up. Everyone is facing increasing costs, be they mills, merchants or printers. But who takes the hit? I can’t help but assume that it’s the guy running the printing press.
It’s all very well for mills to blame higher prices for the rise in costs. But we mustn’t forget that most of the European mills have also been running a deliberate policy of closing down capacity in order to tighten supply and push up prices. That’s not a bad strategy in itself. (In fact, it’s one that print as a whole would do well to adopt, were it not for the fact that it would mean small companies closing themselves down. Unless they sell up, no-one will do that voluntarily.)
While the paper industry is having a tough time of it, it’s a bit rich to blame input costs alone when the sector is doing all it can to push prices up through mill closures. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t put prices up. But I do think they could be more transparent about why this is happening, especially given the paper manufacturing sector’s lamentable record on collusion over pricing.
We’d be interested to hear from our readers both in the print and paper industries about how you are dealing with paper price increases. Is it possible to pass rises on? How are end users reacting? Who is taking the hit? Let us know in the space below.