Spicers will increase pricing on commercial print, digital, packaging, PSL (sheets & rolls), and narrow web products by 8% across the board from Wednesday, 1 December. “This increase is a necessity for our business and has been averaged out across our Print & Packaging product portfolio, including locally manufactured material,” the company said. This represents Spicers' fourth increase in 2021.
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| "Unprecedented conditions": Dale O'Neill, Spicers |
“As has been widely publicised over the last 3 - 6 months the global shipping industry is facing unprecedented conditions due to a lack of shipping capacity compared to a huge global spike in demand for all consumer products,” said Dale O'Neill, general manager, Print and Packaging, Spicers Australia
“Unfortunately, Australia has suffered significantly in the rush globally to secure vessel space and containers as Australian volumes, and distances to travel just cannot compete with Europe and the USA. As shipping companies curtail capacity for our region a simple supply and demand situation has arisen, and the shipping industry has not missed its opportunity to increase their rates.
“As such, all suppliers have been significantly impacted by these increases as vessels are pulled from our waters to markets that need greater capacity. This decreased vessel capacity has caused two major problems for our market. Increased costs being the obvious one, but shipping lead-times has blown out from 8 -10 weeks for most suppliers to a broad range of 16 – 26 week lead-times.
“On top of this perfect storm in the shipping industry the Australian dollar has continued to slide from healthy $0.79 cents in late February 2021 to a modest $0.72 cents at the time of writing. This only puts a greater strain on our cost recovery. The AUD has also significantly declined against the Euro and Japanese Yen in this same period
“Although it was my expectation that the shipping industry may return to normal at some point during 2021, this is now most unlikely, and our information is that shipping will continue to be an issue for the majority of 2022.
“Furthermore, I would like to say that there will not be a need for further increases to our pricing structure, but it is already clear that Spicers will be forced to implement further increases in the new year. Although the magnitude of these increases has yet to be calculated, supplier negotiations over the past fortnight suggest it simply cannot be avoided. I will be back in contact in due course with further advice on this subject.”
The 8% price hike on all print and packaging products is the latest in a number of increases announced this year by Spicers. Prices on all its products increased by 3%-8% in February 2021, then by another 6% in May. Spicers’ range of Epson inks also jumped by 8% in September.
“Please rest assured Spicers as a business has done, and is continuing to do, all it can to mitigate these price rises,” O'Neill said. “We strive to provide the industry with the most cost effective and sustainable business model for our customers benefit.
“Your local sales representative will be in contact shortly with more information as required. We thank you for your understanding during this time and your continued support of Spicers.”
