Over the past months paper prices have gone in one direction – upward. Just like the whole global economy was shaken to the core by the pandemic, it has seemed that as the first day of January, April, July and September approached, so too did a letter from the paper merchants informing us that another rise of 5% to 8% would be required. Just have a look at Foex to see the upward trend in the graphs.

And it’s not just the UK. In North America, paper prices are skyrocketing too. But while their price rises are driven mostly by lack of mill capacity and a tight labour market, over here it’s more of a perfect wave of latent demand fuelled by the pandemic together with the closure of paper mills alongside other mills switching from paper to board for packaging production in response to the demand from e-commerce.

And of course, paper mills themselves are also facing the double-whammy of increased costs from their own supply chains for things like chemicals and plant, along with the much heralded challenges in logistics and distribution.

Now of course, there are huge hikes in energy prices leading to pricing surcharges on paper which are inevitably passed on to print buyers and their customers.