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AyRojgar
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Mixed experienceThe owner of a printing press in Babubazar, Dhaka, in a Prothom Alo report

Paper up 30 per cent in a week, and the presses stop

Paper-based inputs rose about 30 per cent in a week just before the book season: white print paper up 25,000 taka a tonne to 135,000-160,000, and newsprint from 64,000 to 85,000.

In November 2022, just before the book fair and the January new-book season, the paper market turned: gas shortages disrupted mill output, supply tightened, and prices rose by 15,000 to 30,000 taka a tonne within a week. White print paper went up 25,000 taka a tonne to 135,000-160,000, laser paper up 30,000 to 170,000, and newsprint from 64,000 to 85,000 - a 33 per cent rise in a fortnight. A press owner in Babubazar said work is never short at this time of year in a normal market, but that orders had begun to fall as paper climbed. A press in Aramabag emailed and phoned its long-standing clients to say it could not do the old work without repricing, and a wholesaler in Nayabazar saw his turnover halve. Exercise books moved too: 100 cover sheets from 1,800 to 2,600 taka, and a dozen 120-page notebooks from 310-320 to 400 wholesale. Publishers held off printing in the hope of a fall, which meant the peak season itself was being spent waiting.

Lessons

  1. 1.A sudden jump in input prices turns orders already taken into losses: write the repricing clause in when you take the job
  2. 2.In a seasonal trade, the input price just before the peak decides the whole year's profit

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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