Kodak has announced that it will increase the price of all Kodak offset printing plates globally. Plate prices will increase up to 9%.

Over the past 12 months, Kodak has been absorbing significant increases in costs for raw materials that are used to produce its offset plates, including: aluminum; chemicals; and packaging materials. Kodak continues to improve productivity and efficiencies to help offset these marketplace dynamics, but the magnitude of the materials cost impact has made it necessary to increase plate prices.

“The printing plates market is both technology-intensive and cost-competitive,” says Brad Kruchten, president, Print Systems Division, Kodak. “As a result, there is no room for us to continue to absorb these escalating raw materials costs without raising our own prices.”

“Our approach to implementation will affect our newest and most technically-advanced products the least, while our more mature offerings, which are less efficient and less advanced, will see higher price increases,” he adds. “This, in turn, will help drive long-term viability, profitability and sustainability for our printers and our industry partners.”

Details of the new pricing structure will be communicated to all customers and dealers across the world shortly.

Plate price increases were previously announced for China in January 2017.