We have seen unprecedented price increases over the past 12 months on label materials, particularly paper products. Multiple factors have combined to cause huge supply chain issues resulting in soaring costs.
- Pulp prices remain at record high levels due to huge demand for paper during the economic recovery
- The costs of silicone and paper chemicals are high due to supply chain bottle necks
- Strike action in UPM Paper Mills in Finland who are a key supplier of stock to the European market. This is now going into its 14th week.
- Transportation costs are extremely high due to the lack of shipping container capacity.
- Rapidly rising energy costs. Paper processing is an extremely energy intensive process.
We are endeavouring to place as many stock orders as our suppliers will accept, however some orders have been cancelled or delayed at short notice. We are seeing delivery dates on new orders for some products with lead times into 3 months.
Currently there are no signs of any significant improvements and some predictions are that the supply issues could still get worse.
Please speak to your Account Manager about your label requirements for the next six months as soon as you can so we can be as prepared as possible. We are asking customers not to panic order but to keep to usual ordering patterns where possible.
