Paper’s a fairly every day commodity and the rising price means a major impact on many businesses, not least for printers.
The cost of paper for a print job is usually in the range of 30% – 60% of the total so paper price rises –which for many people take effect this week – are pretty significant. As a marketing business specialising in print management we buy paper from two main sources: our print suppliers and our office supplies.
It’s usually more topical to talk about rising fuel prices rather than paper, mainly because fuel amounts to as much as 35% of overheads for businesses that have to transport goods by road. So if you’re in the paper business at the moment, rising prices would seem to be even more of a major cause for concern.
According to the British Print Industries Federation (BPIF) paper prices have continued to increase since early 2010, against a backdrop of increased demand and a continued tightening of paper supply. The UK print industry is the world’s fifth largest producer of printed products and has a turnover in excess of £14bn. There are more than 10,000 companies employing around 140,000 people.
Several price rises have affected almost all printers sometime over the past 18 months. The overall levels of price hikes have been quite considerable for the majority. The problem for printers is balancing how many of the rises they can absorb and how many they can pass on to customers. Compared with 2009, prices have risen by around 30%.
Now another hike is about to take its toll and a Leicestershire printer told my colleague that, once again, the rise is going to have to be passed on to the customer.
He said that paper mills have explained that rising prices are due to changes in supply and demand conditions around the world. These changing conditions can be caused by a number of factors, including economic, political, meteorological, or geological.
Add to that the rising price of oil and there’s only one direction the price can go. But our printer also said that paper prices were on the rise before oil prices escalated and there was a view that paper prices were lower that they should be.
So one suspects the truth lies somewhere amid global crises, rising oil prices, economic uncertainty, natural disasters, and business opportunity. There’s so much you can blame, it’s probably a good opportunity to add a few pence to the price; probably too good an opportunity to miss.
