Consumables

Raw materials continue to drive price increases for printing inks

Tuesday 07. December 2010 - Sun Chemical today announced that the price of its Heatset and Publication Gravure products in Europe will be increased by €0.20-0.25 per kg depending on colour, effective immediately.

With continuous pricing pressure and shortage of key raw materials, it has become essential to implement a further cost increase. Materials such as gum rosin, one of the most important resins used in the manufacture of these inks, continue to suffer from severe supply shortages which aren’t abating.
Added to this, hydrocarbon resin is in very short supply and a very large cost increase is imminently expected for carbon black materials. This is as a result of high crude oil prices together with a weaker Euro.
Felipe Mellado, Chief Marketing Officer of Sun Chemical, comments: “Sun Chemical continues to work hard to offset some of the raw material cost increases, but with shortages continuing and in some cases deteriorating, this move has become essential.
Indicators for the situation in 2011 do not show a very different scenario, in terms of limited supply. In general we are expecting a similar, if not more challenging, situation as most of the drivers are structural changes in the Chemical industry that will remain in 2011.
This price increase will be additional to the increase communicated in July this year.