Sun Chemical raises its prices

Continued increases in the costs of raw materials and volatility in the global supply chain are to blame for the latest price rises announced by Sun Chemical.  The new prices, which will take effect in North America on February 1, 2011 are as follows:

$0.14 per pound for sheetfed blending bases
$0.10 per pound for sheetfed blacks, whites and varnishes
$0.12 per pound for heatset process black and color inks
$0.07 per pound for solvent-based liquid inks
$0.10 per pound for all white liquid inks
5 percent for screen inks
8-12 percent for heatset Pantone Matching Systems (PMS), fluorescent, metallic inks and overprint varnishes
5-10 percent for silicones and washes
5 percent for fountain solutions

According to a company spokesman: ‘In some cases, such as for TiO2, we have seen the global capacity reduced by as much as 10 percent in three years, demand driven up, and raw materials for manufacturing TiO2 become tight.’
 
This resulted in a price increase in this particular raw material of 15 percent in 2010, with another 8 percent increase announced for January 1, 2011.  With the market’s continued tightness, TiO2 is forecasted to increase another 6-8 percent quarterly in 2011. 
 
‘Factors like these for TiO2 and other raw materials have made it difficult to offset rising raw material costs, which, unfortunately, has forced us to pass some of these costs on to our customers,’ he added.