Flint Group increases prices globally for all packaging inks

In addition to announcements made in March 2017, Flint Group stated that raw material markets for many components within its packaging inks products have experienced price escalation. It added that many raw material markets remain highly volatile as 2017 comes to a close.

The third quater of 2017 saw significant increases and supplementary rises have been announced for the fourth quarter. Current forecasts indicate that the price pressure will not lessen as the industry moves into 2018. Flint Group identified these cost burdens as necessitating packaging ink prices rising  globally as of January 1, 2018.

Price inflation has been witnessed in polyethylene and polyethylene resins, titanium dioxide, pigments, key solvents, glycerin and MMAs; all these feedstocks affect the cost base of both solvent-based and water-based inks and coatings. Examples include: numerous pigment production facilities in China being ordered to close, awaiting environmental inspection; glycerin prices in 2018 are expected to be 80-90 percent higher than 2017; key solvents are under pressure due to outages and tight material supply; persistent tightening of and price escalation in the Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) market.

Doug Aldred, president of packaging inks at Flint Group, said: ‘Despite our tenacious efforts to mitigate these dynamics by deploying significant capital to efficiency projects, cost pressure has been utterly relentless. The situation now necessitates that we pass some increases through the supply chain. Product quality and consistency are essential for our customers which is why we will continue to prioritize efficiency improvements so they can assuredly rely on us moving into the New Year.’