Fujifilm Announces Offset Plate Price Increase

Fujifilm North America Corp., Graphic Systems Division, says it will be increasing the prices of its offset printing plates. The price increase is a result of raw material cost increases, most significantly driven by substantial increases in the cost of raw aluminium, shifting costs of labor, and other related costs in plate manufacturing. Efficiencies in manufacturing have also been negatively impacted by decreasing volumes in traditional plates due to changes in market demands.

Fujifilm has been working tirelessly to improve internal efficiencies, and reduce the impact of rising costs; however, these process improvements have not been sufficient to mitigate these conditions. Fujifilm will therefore be increasing the price of its offset printing plates from Dec. 1, 2017, by up to 8%, with the actual increase passed on to printers dependent on local market situations.

Todd Zimmerman, division president, Fujifilm North America Corp., Graphic Systems Division, explains, “We have absorbed cost increases of raw materials, labor, and other production costs for the last 12 months to try and avoid passing on price increases to our customers. Unfortunately this situation is unsustainable. Our customers have come to expect products of the very highest quality from Fujifilm, with service and support to match. Our focus is to safeguard our ability to provide that very high level of service. These price increases are a necessary step to maintain our production capabilities and continue to service our customers.”

(Unrelated to Fujifilm's announcement, Presstek announced earlier this year that it discontinued the sale of Freedom Pro printing plates for Vector imaging devices, causing some consternation among users of this CTP system.)

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with IPG. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of IPG.