Belgium-headquartered Agfa said that raw material shortages remained an ongoing concern and said the “competitive environment to secure aluminium and other raw materials has accelerated the cost increase”. 

“Recently, aluminium futures traded to a 30-year high on the London Metal Exchange, reporting now at over double the cost of 18 months ago,” Agfa stated. 

"This [is a] surcharge in line with our quarterly review of costs, in addition to all raw materials increasing indications are that there will be a shortage of litho quality aluminium in 2022 so we do not expect any significant reduction in the foreseeable future,” said Eddie Williams, head of sales dealers and local accounts in Europe.

“We are working closely with our suppliers to ensure that there will no interruption to our supply chain and are very confident any potential shortages will not affect our current customer base.”

The revised pricing is effective from 1 November. 

Kodak is understood to have notified customers of a €0.89/sqm (75p/sqm) increase in plate prices for all customers, effective 11 November. 

The manufacturer had not commented officially at the time of writing.

Fujifilm announced a fresh surcharge of 60p/sqm last week, also effective from 1 November.