Paper prices in Italy and the US increased, while Russia lacked paper. This situation threatens the profits of publishers, leading to increased book prices and slow release of new books.
Recently, former US President Donald Trump spoke on Fox News about the delay in printing more copies of Our Journey Together – a photo book about his presidency. Donald Trump said workers told him that the printing house could not get paper, ink, glue, leather – the raw materials for making books.
Not only the publisher that prints Donald Trump’s books, the publishing industry in many places is facing a printing paper crisis.
Rising paper prices affect publisher profits
Brian O’Leary, CEO of the Book Industry Study Group, which analyzes the publishing industry’s supply chain issues, says paper is becoming harder to find. Mills have cut back on paper production for books and magazines, using pulp instead to make cardboard, packaging and other more lucrative papers.
In the past, paper buyers dominated the market, being able to order as much from the factory as needed. Now, mills tell printers how much paper they can sell.
In some cases, the lack of paper changes the size of the book. Different types of paper will determine the thickness of a book. One Twitter user posted an image of two copies of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, one significantly thinner than the second, despite both being around the same price.
The publishing industry in some places is facing a shortage of paper, and the price of paper has increased. At a recent Venice booksellers conference, the Italian Association of Publishers (AIE) considered paper one of two crises facing the country’s book industry.
According to a report by the Italian Publishers Association, the main concern now is the sharp increase in the cost of paper materials, threatening the market. That leads to the risk of reducing the supply of books and journals, delays in delivery, possibly increasing the price of books and more serious problems in the field of publishing educational materials and materials.
Ricardo Franco Levi, president of the Italian Publishers Association, called the soaring paper prices “an emergency, a serious threat to the world of books”.
“These intolerable price hikes are crushing the bottom line for all publishers,” Levi told Publishingperspective. This leads to the risk of increasing cover prices for books, especially affecting academic publishers.
To overcome this situation, AIE is working with two related entities, the National Association of Publishers (ANES) and the Federation of Paper and Graphics. Three organizations are calling for Rome to waive taxes on the purchase of paper to publish books. That tax break was meant to offset the rapidly increasing cost of paper.
In that context, the Association of Italian Publishers focuses on publishing for schools, committed to ensuring textbooks are available to schools and families.
Book buyers suffer
Paper shortages have occurred for a long time, since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, Russia faces the challenge of a shortage of offset printing paper and a 10% increase in paper prices.
The Russian book market imports 80% of its paper from abroad. Most of Russia’s printing paper products are supplied by partners from China and European Union member states. The pandemic caused the border to close, later a policy of limiting contact, which reduced the supply of paper to Russia. That has a negative impact on the publishing market.
Konstantin Lun, Production Manager of Moscow-based Alpina Publishing House, said: “Because of the shortage of paper and the significant increase in paper prices, there has been an increase in the price of books. Of course, raising prices is a very serious matter for the publishing industry, but in the end, the consequences go straight to the customer.” Book prices in Russia have increased by about 10% in 2021.
Paper shortages in Europe by the end of 2021 are reflected in the Independent. The newspaper attributed most of the shortage to European paper mills struggling to find workers when they reopened after shutting down due to Covid-19.
Mariel Deegan, general manager of New Island Books, based in Ireland, said the paper shortage was affecting businesses. With pre-orders (orders before the book’s release), printers and publishers struggle to find paper. While the pre-booked price has been set, the price of paper has increased, causing difficulties for publishing businesses.
The Bookseller site assesses that the global pulp shortage is causing major disruption to the publishing industry. By the end of 2021, a number of European countries have to face the situation of suppliers delaying the delivery of paper by 2-3 months, seriously affecting the re-publishing of books.
One of the reasons for the paper shortage indicated on Bookseller is that China has closed many paper mills. This country produces a large amount of raw materials for the paper industry, has implemented a policy of reducing paper mills to reduce energy consumption, and achieving environmental protection goals.