The global rise in paper prices began with the outbreak of the corona crisis, but in recent months the situation has worsened and since January 2020 the prices of the types of paper used, among other things, for printing newspapers, books, and cardboard paper have doubled.
The Russo-Ukrainian war added fuel to the fire: sea freight prices jumped by hundreds of percent, and queues at Israeli seaports lengthened.
Because Israel imports a significant portion of the paper it consumes by sea, all of these have a major impact on the industry.
Publishing companies complain not only about the jump in the price of paper, but also about a real shortage, which is reflected in delays and cancellations of deliveries, as well as complete uncertainty regarding the delivery dates of imported products.
While in some cases the cost of going up to the consumer can be rolled up - for example, by increasing the price of the carton used to pack deliveries at the supermarket - when it comes to newsprint or paper for advertising the options are more limited due to the declining trend in favor of digital.
At this stage, the four newspaper printing houses (Haaretz, Israel Hayom, Maariv and Yedioth Ahronoth) are not calling for help, but a conversation with those involved in the field shows that the situation is not particularly alarming.
Availability crisis.
Ronen,
"Absorbing the rise in prices"
Itai Ronen is the CEO and co-owner of Nirflex-Runaimer, the largest company in Israel in the field of representation, marketing and sale of all types of printing and packaging paper. In a conversation with Israel Today, he says: A phenomenon that has not been experienced laterally and certainly not for such long periods of time.
"All types of paper and cardboard have become more expensive, and their price has doubled to an unprecedented peak. For example, the entire category of 'advertising paper' - which includes paper for printing newspapers, magazines, local newspapers, etc. - suffers from global shortages and doubled prices. This is in addition to the increase in the cost of additional production inputs beyond paper. "
According to Ronen, "publishers are forced to absorb a considerable part of the price increases, since it is difficult to roll up the price increases to advertising prices.
Their options are mainly to save and streamline production, and reduce the amount of pages depending on the paper inventory they have.
At the same time, small publishers decided to give up print and switch to online products only. "
Ronen says that paper consumption for the press has been in a negative trend in the world since the beginning of the previous decade, and in a continuous decline of about 6% -5% every year.
According to him, the consumption of newsprint in the world shrank during this period to about 70% due to the transfer of print advertising budgets in favor of digital media, in which consumer-focused advertising can be implemented.
"As someone who lives in the world of paper and print and believes in it, I have no doubt that the written press industry will know how to adapt, and I certainly would not close the door on it. At most, it will change its face according to the changing reality," says Ronen.
Significant cost in production costs.
Trivax,
"Requires to raise prices"
The book industry is also affected by the doubling of the price of paper, most of which is currently imported from Europe.
Bini Trivax, chairman of the Association of Book Publishers in Israel, says that "the price from January 2021 until today has doubled.
This has a significant impact on production costs, and it also necessitates raising book prices.
Although we do the minimum possible, a large part of the publishers have already updated the prices of the new books.
"Because of the marketing costs, a small part of the catalog book remains with the publisher himself, and in order for him to receive an additional three shekels - which is an increase in the production price - the book price must be increased by NIS 10-8.
That's what he has left after 70% -50% discount he gives to the chains. "
Trivax adds that some of the papers used for production are not always available.
"This requires advance preparation, which makes it difficult for publishers to plan production times and estimate how many books they will need at the appropriate times."
According to Itai Ronen, there is a fundamental difference between paper for books and paper for the press.
"Digital media is not a substitute for paper books, and it accounts for only about 3% of the world book market. Despite rising prices, the consumption of printed books is increasing every year.
“Even though the cost of paper has doubled in the last year, the price increase is still a small percentage of the book price on the shelf, so I guess most of the paper price increases are absorbed by the book publishers.
"They will probably take more into account today which titles are to be published, and how many books will be printed in the edition."
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