Due to outages and tight material supply, key solvents are under pressure
Further to announcements made in March 2017, incremental cost escalation has forced Flint Group to raise the prices of its packaging inks products.
The raw material markets for many components within the inks have experienced price escalation. Many raw material markets remain highly volatile as 2017 comes to a close.
Q3 2017 saw significant increases and supplementary rises have been announced for Q4 2017. Current forecasts indicate that the price pressure will not lessen as the industry moves into 2018. These unique cost burdens necessitate a rise in prices globally as of 1 January 2018. The company’s sales representatives are currently in the market discussing the magnitude of increases for each customer and segment.
Numerous pigment production facilities in China have been ordered to close, awaiting environmental inspection. In addition glycerin prices in 2018 are expected to be 80-90% higher than 2017. Due to outages and tight material supply, key solvents are under pressure, such as the persistent tightening and price escalation in the Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) market.
Doug Aldred, president packaging inks, explained, ‘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 prioritise efficiency improvements so they can assuredly rely on us moving into the New Year.’
