We know our customers are currently facing price rises across a whole spectrum of costs. But why are paper prices rising, and how can we help you with it?

Why are the prices rising?

A variety of factors are currently affecting the price of paper. Along with a few expected issues, there are a few elements you might not have realised: 

• Rising demand for paper over plastic - Many consumers want paper-based products over plastic for environmental reasons, which we think makes excellent sense from an environmental point of view. However, the price of pulp (the raw material paper is made from) has now increased massively, due to huge increased demand for the supply.
• Changes in manufacturing priorities - Many paper mills are also switching their manufacturing priorities to high-demand products such as cardboard and other paper packaging, and away from printer paper. This means potential price rises on these lines as supply struggles to meet demand. 
• Rising cost of fuel - as you will have noticed at the petrol pumps, the cost of fuel has had some huge spikes over the last couple of years due to increased demand and crises like the war in Ukraine driving up the price of crude oil. As paper needs to be transported around the country, these fuel increases end up raising the price of boxes of paper. The same issue applies to energy - in the same way you will have noticed increases in your energy costs at home and in your business, companies in all parts of the paper-making industry are feeling the squeeze of higher energy costs. Unfortunately, this all contributes to a higher cost for every ream of paper.
• Issues with shipping containers - disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic (such as lockdowns and border closures) have massively disrupted global shipping, resulting in massive price increases. With some shipping containers now costing 5x as much as they did pre-pandemic, this has hugely increased the cost of paper movement as much of the supply comes from manufacturers all around the world. 
• Problems with manufacturing chemicals - about 70% of the chemicals used in manufacturing copier paper come from Russia, and the current conflict in Ukraine has caused understandable disruptions to the supply. 

Unfortunately, all of this means that the cost to us of each box of paper has massively increased, and we have no choice but to raise our prices. However, as you know, we always want to help our customers out with any problem. 

So, how can we help you?

Ultimately, we want to help save our customers money while making sure you still get the products you need. That's why the following factors give us a big advantage in this situation: 

• Working with a variety of suppliers - we don't just rely on one big supplier, we work with several companies to ensure a steady supply of products for our customers. This means that even if one of our sources is running short of paper, we can shop around to find more stock and lower prices, which we pass on to our customers. 
• A friendly team that's happy to help you find alternatives - sometimes, we just can't lower the price on your favourite stock. If the price challenges start affecting the paper you like best, just remember the Office Needs team is always happy to chat with you about the range of alternatives we can offer. 
• We help you balance costs with other savings - did you know we offer free invoice audits to help you identify your regular needs and work out cost savings across your everyday shopping baskets? So if you're worried about how rises in paper might affect your overall budget, just remember there are lots of ways to find other savings that help re-balance the books.

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