Russian state to implement more strict control for pricing in domestic paper market

Russian OKIL-SATO printing house. Photo: OKIL

Amid the ever rising prices for paper in Russia, the Ministry of Industry and Trade held a meeting with its manufacturers and customers  to form a working group to collect data on prices on a regular basis.

As a result of the meeting, the sides have agreed to find a compromise on prices so that their growth would not exceed the inflation rate.

The reason for the meeting became a letter from the Russian Union of Printing Industry Enterprises (GIPP) to the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a complaint about the rise in prices for printing houses and publishers for different types of paper in Russia - newspaper, offset, coated and others.

According to Rosstat, over the past year (September to September) the selling price of pulp has increased by 30%, offset and printing paper has risen in price by 6-15%, wrapping paper - by 46%, while  most popular corrugated cardboard has soared in price by 65%.

In regard of newsprint, the growth of prices for it became insignificant amid the ever falling demand for it. That leads to the fact that the quality of paper books is getting worse, while their circulation continues to decline against the backdrop of a turn of production processes towards packaging.

By: Eugene Gerden