Sun Chemical says it will increase its prices for all energy-curable inks for narrow web, tag and label by 7 percent. The increases will take effect April 1.

Citing “continued increases in the costs of raw materials and volatility in the global supply chain,” Sun said it also will raise prices for some its sheetfed process inks, packaging printing inks and commercial printing inks. The price hikes will range from 4 to 8 percent.

Further consolidation in the supply base is expected in 2011 along with continued pressure for suppliers to alternatively sell key raw materials into other markets, Sun Chemical states. The combination of these factors has led to elevated costs in almost every raw material category critical to the production of inks.

“Although it is impossible for us to totally change what is happening to the dynamics of our supply chain, at Sun Chemical, we continue to work extremely hard to control our own costs as well as work closely with our supply chain partners to curtail cost, but it has not been enough to offset the drastic raw material price increases we have seen this past year across all our product lines,” says Brian Breidigan, vice president, product management sheetfed, North American inks, Sun Chemical. “We will continue to work closely with our customers to help them get the most possible out of their inks, and to develop new value oriented products and services that can help them grow their business despite this challenging marketplace.”

Sun Chemical is the world’s largest producer of printing inks and pigments and a leading provider of materials to packaging, publication, coatings, plastics, cosmetics, and other industrial markets. With annual sales of more than $3.5 billion, Sun Chemical has more than 9,500 employees supporting customers around the world.