Labels and Packaging Innovation Asia • 6 2021 -
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Will prices go up?
Label and packaging p Not only was it a mixed year in 2020, it will continue to be exciting. The label and packaging industry came out of 2020 with a black eye. Generally speaking, it was sometimes a good year for some, in terms of sales and order books. At least in some segments.
As soon as the year starts and it’s not even the beginning of spring, prices for substrates shoot through the roof. By substrates, we don’t just mean printing stocks, but raw materials – including those for inks. Did that come as a surprise? No, not at all. If you can put one and one together, these developments are neither surprising nor arbitrary. The overall dynamics that preceded it could only have the present state as a result. And it will be idle to debate here what the causes were, who is to blame. It is what it is.
The drivers for the price increases are, on the one hand, of course the pulp prices, which is due to a supply and demand situation. On the one hand, and on the other, a systemic environment of 2020. The pandemic has led to shifts in the paper industry’s operations. Bloated paper inventories in 2020 with unsold paper fell to historically low levels starting in 2021. Added to this are the costs of chemicals, additives and transportation. These have increased and will continue to increase in 2021.
International freight traffic is not unaffected. Logistics costs are merely a reflection of the distortions. So much for paper prices in a nutshell. POLYMER PRICES – THE SKY’S THE LIMIT And all those who work with paper as a substrate can count themselves lucky right now, because the price of polymers is skyrocketing. In a single month, PP prices rose dramatically – but with further upside potential. The basic problem is resins, which are not available in sufficient quantities. This
