Printers can expect paper price rises of up to 10%

The paper merchant's Dalton and Spicers arm have both notified customers that prices hikes from 5% to 10% on coated and uncoated stocks will take effect on 16 August, with other merchants expected to follow suit.

Coated paper and board is set to rise 5-10%, uncoated paper and board will go up 8%, while carbonless and specialty papers will see 5% hikes and other products will go up 2-5%.

In a letter sent out to customers and seen by ProPrint, Paperlinx said: "This demand for higher pricing continues to be fuelled by surging pulp prices and raw materials.

"Also contributing to the need for these increases is the constant news of closures and downtime taken by unprofitable mills. For this reason the markets of Europe and Asia can be described as tight with allocations and delayed shipments on both coated and uncoated papers and boards."

Paperlinx group strategic sourcing manager Rohan Dean told ProPrint that things could have been worse.

He said the removal of the tariff on imported coated paper following the closure of the Wesley Vale mill had slowed down price increases over the past couple of months.

"But prices are going up again. Pulp prices just keep going up and up and up. The price of paper imported into Australia will get to its highest point in August-September. Then the question is: will that be it or will it keep going up?" said Dean.

Dean explained that currency fluctuations had also impacted on paper prices. "The US dollar is widely accepted as the main trading currency in pulp and paper. Over the past three months, we've seen the Australian dollar and US dollar exchange rate vary from a high of 0.91c to a low of 0.81c."

It is believed that the rises will hit printers across the board.

Dean said all merchants faced pressure from rising paper prices, and expected 5-8% hikes to take effect across the entire sector. "While we don't all buy from the same manufacturers, we all buy from the same regions."

The latest hikes come hot on the heels of paper price increases in April, as well as news that inks and consumables prices face upward pressure due to rising raw materials costs.

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