Home ›› 21 Jan 2023 ›› Front
The price of paper has more than doubled in a year in the local market, creating apprehension among the publishers about whether they would be able to publish the expected number of books in the upcoming Ekushey Book Fair.
As a result of the global economic crisis, prices of different types of paper have increased by 10 per cent to 50 per cent.
Many publishers are not bringing new books to the upcoming book fair, scheduled in February next, due to the increase in the price of paper.
According to the publishers, the rising cost of paper forces them to maintain higher book prices and they are in doubt whether the buyers can afford the increased prices.
Mazharul Islam, the CEO of Anyaprokash, said, “The cost of paper has increased by more than 2.5 times. As a result, for this year’s book fair, I am publishing one-fourth of the books I usually publish every year. The price of books has gone up by at least 30%.”
Aminur Mia, the owner of Ruhul Book Publishing, said, “Usually, the last three months of a year is the peak season for a publishing house. But this year, we don’t have much work because of the spiralling paper prices.
The increased price of paper has hampered our business severely.”
The owner of Solaiman Book Binding House said, “In previous years, there was a lot of work at this time. But this year, there is hardly any workload even before a few weeks of the book fair.”
“All publishers will bring fewer books to the fair as they fear that books might not be sold due to the increased prices,” he added.
Kavita Publishing’s owner Nazrul Haider said, “As a result of the increased paper prices, book prices will substantially rise. All things considered, the price of books will rise by 30–35 per cent this year compared to the previous year.”
The paper for printing books is mainly produced in the country, but the paper mills are dependent on foreign raw materials. Therefore, the price of paper is increasing due to the volatile global market situation.
According to the importers, as the import of all publishing materials is stopped at present, a vested group of traders is increasing the price of the raw materials every day.
“The price of a tonne of newsprint paper was Tk 40,000-42,000 a year ago. But now, its price has increased to more than Tk 1 lakh,” said Shyamal Pal, vice-president of Bangladesh Book Publishers and Sellers Association.
“Paper prices are always going up. Through a press conference, we sought government inference to control the price. But to date, nothing has been done,” he informed.
Meanwhile, students are also suffering due to the increase in paper prices. The A4 size of paper is the most popular among students for assignments and other tasks.
Industry insiders said previously, the price for 500 sheets of A4 (80-gram) paper ranged from Tk 210 to Tk 250 which has now risen to Tk 420. The price of a 100-gram paper packet has increased from Tk 320 to Tk 520.
As a result, along with notebooks, the prices of all types of text and reference books have also increased. The price of notebooks or test papers has almost doubled.
Shopkeepers in several libraries in the capital increased the price of books even before the arrival of next year’s new books. Prices of various magazines and job preparation books have also gone up.
