The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) will conduct an investigation over a sharp rise of prices for paper and cardboard in the domestic market this year.
That will become a response to the letter, which was sent to FAS by the Russian Book Union (RKS), which have already warned about the planned significant increase of book prices in Russia already in a short term.
As Oleg Novikov, president of the Eksmo-AST publishing group, one of Russia’s leading publishers told in an interview with the Russian Kommersant business paper raising paper prices in the context of inflation is a common practice, however earlier such growth did not exceed 7% per year, being a significantly higher at present.
According to him, if the situation does not change, the cost of paper produced in Russia will be equal with imported paper from suppliers from Europe.
Russian media said press publishers are also preparing an appeal to the state regarding the increase in paper prices, warning that final cost of their magazines may grow by 16%, while publishers will have to switch to cheaper paper.
In the meantime, leading Russian pulp and paper producers have already explained the rise in prices by the increase in production costs due to the rise in prices for raw materials and chemicals.
The biggest growth was observed in the case of waste paper, prices for which in Russia have almost doubled for the last several months.
By: Eugen Gerden