COIMBATORE: Textbooks and notebooks are set to cost more as printers hiked charges by 30 per cent effective from April 1 citing steep increase in paper cost.H Nazar, president of Coimbatore Printers Association said, “The cost of paper is increasing day by day and we have no option than to pass on price rise to consumers. The price hike would vary based on the paper quality. The cost of double coated paper has increased from Rs 2500 in March last year to Rs 5000 now.”
He further said prices of all raw materials have gone up. “The price of aluminum, which is used for making printing plates, has increased to Rs 1000 from Rs 700. The price of ink has increased to Rs 3900 from Rs 2500 per kg,” he said and expressed concern that customers could choose single colour printing instead of multiple colours.
C Balasubramanian, former president of Federation of Paper Traders Association of India, said, “Earlier, paper cost would be revised annually after budget presentation. Before Covid-19 outbreak, the cost changed every six months. But over the last two years, the price is changing every day.
“The cost of import of the raw material increased by 200 per cent due to shortage of containers. It almost takes 45 days and 60 days for shipment to arrive from China and USA respectively. These two countries are the biggest exporters of paper to India.”
Asked if domestic paper mills have an opportunity to bridge the gap, he said, “Due to increase of pulp price and chemicals, domestic mills are also forced to hike price. Now paper mills are calculating the price of supply to traders on the date of supply than on the day the order is received.”