After the coronavirus was controlled to a certain extent and daily life began to gain some normalcy, the financial and social effects that the pandemic left on the Kuwaiti economy became transparent. Just as other industries, the state of the paper industry in Kuwait has been a reflection of the improvement that the world is experiencing today.
During the pandemic, printing presses in Kuwait suffered from an insane rise in the price of paper, and the inability to meet the required demands increased unprecedentedly. Buying paper from neighbouring countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have not stopped, due to the continuous demand from suppliers, but this has increased the availability of paper with a higher price tag.
For nearly four months, the price of a ton of paper has been rising steadily, day by day. “During the pandemic a ton of paper ranged between 270 and 280 Kuwaiti dinars, but today has reached nearly 450 dinars,” says Sami Ayoub of Al Kath Printing Press, an international award-winning full service offset and digital printing company, founded in 1983.
In the opinion of the stakeholders, there are several reasons behind the high price of paper in its various forms, with the exception of carton. One was the cost of shipping and maritime transport which increased eight times as compared to the pre-pandemic days. Another was an increase in demand for raw materials, while manufacturers of raw materials were greatly impacted by the pandemic operating to nearly 20% of their total capacity, especially during the months of lockdowns. The scarcity of wood pulp, widely used in the paper industry, was another major reason for the higher costs.
Printing press owners and paper dealers made a comparison between the prices of food board paper, two years ago and their prices today. Says Ayoub, “Before the coronavirus crisis, the price of a ton of food cartonboard was 280 dinars, and today it is approximately 550 dinars,” stressing on the huge difference in price in just a gap of two years. As for the highly-creative crochet paper, the price of a ton was 230 dinars, today costing about 450 dinars.”
Paper suppliers and traders estimate Kuwait’s annual consumption at around 150 thousand tons, and it may increase or decrease according to the market’s need. By inference of the high value of paper, a book from the Ministry of Education which would have normally cost no more than 200 fils, is today priced around 800 fils, and sometimes also in dinars. With this, the budget allocated by the Ministry has increased from two million dinars to nearly 6 million this year.
