Raw-material price hikes just keep on comin’

-- Converting Magazine, 7/11/2008

Another day, another price increase…or so it seems. Four major suppliers of raw materials for package printers and converters announced another round of price hikes in the past week.

♦ Caraustar Industries (www.caraustar.com) will increase prices by $50 per ton for all coated, recycled paperboard grades, as well as pass through certain freight surcharges to customers, effective with shipments on and after July 28. It will also raise prices on all paperboard-based converted products by 6%, effective with shipments on and after Aug. 11.

♦ Graphic Packaging International (www.graphicpkg.com) announced a $50 per ton price increase for its coated recycled board (CRB) and uncoated recycled board (URB). GPI will also set new freight allowances. These price hikes are effective with shipments on or after July 28, and apply to all grades supplied by mills in Pekin, IL; Middletown, OH; Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, MI; Philadelphia; Wabash, IN; and Santa Clara, CA.

Additionally, GPI will up prices for its coated unbleached kraft (CUK) grades (Pearl-Kote® and Omni-Kote® used for food packaging and Aqua-Kote® paperboard used for beverage carriers) by $40 per ton, effective Aug. 1.

♦ Rock-Tenn Co. (www.rocktenn.com) will increases prices by $65 per ton on CartonMate® bleached paperboard, effective with shipments on July 26.

♦ Sun Chemical North America (www.sunchemical.com), including Canada, will implement energy/material surcharges on inks effective July 14. A 10-cent/lb surcharge will be applied to news inks, directory inks, coldest, heatset, publication gravure, solvent packaging, and energy curing inks. Water packaging inks will be subjected to a 6-cent/lb surcharge.

♦ Flint Group (www.flintgrp.com) announced price increases and surcharges on all packaging inks sold in North America, effective on all products billed on or after July 21.Surcharges on all solvent, energy-curable and paste products (inks, coatings, extenders/blend vehicles) is 10 cents/lb. Surcharges on water-based inks, coatings, extenders/blend vehicles and additives: 6 cents/lb. Price increases are as follows: Solvent liquid ink colors, extenders/blend vehicles and additives: 5%; sSolvent liquid blacks and all solvent and water whites: 7%; water-based ink colors and blacks: 4%; conventional sheetfed paste inks: 6%; all energy-curable products: 6%.

♦ Michelman (www.michem.com) will increase prices 15-25% on coatings and additives across all product categories in the Americas region, effective July 14. The supplier's products are used on flexible packaging, paperboard and corrugated boxes.