FEP Resolution to support the print sector

During its meeting in Riga on 23 September 2022, the FEP members adopted a resolution to support the print sector. The approved text can be found as follows and in PDF version.

European publishers are facing an unprecedented crisis in the paper market, characterised by severe shortages compounded by a huge spike in prices. Graphic paper prices increased on average by 80% in 2021/2022, with some types of paper having become more than twice as expensive.

This is the result of a series of factors, including bottlenecks in supply chains, the increase in energy and transport costs, the conversion of productive capacity from paper to cardboard for packaging (driven by the surge of e-commerce) and several others, all combining to produce an extremely dangerous scenario, only made worse by the fact that timber supply in the EU is being largely exported. At the same time, as publishers take seriously their responsibility towards the environment when dealing with partners within and outside the EU, they risk facing an ever-increasing burden as users of wood and derivative products.

European publishers, gathered in the FEP General Assembly, want to raise the alarm, and call upon national and European policymakers to adopt urgent measures to mitigate the impact of this crisis on an industrial sector – in which Europe is a world leader – that ensures growth and employment, alongside cultural and societal benefits to Europe and its citizens, and whose thousands of enterprises – mostly SMEs – are being challenged dramatically.

PDF version