In the face of unprecedented industrial energy price rises, the Graphics and Print Media Alliance (GPMA) has called on newly-appointed UK Prime Minister Liz Truss and the country’s current Business Secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, to take immediate action or risk ‘mass business failure’.
With Ms Truss ascending to the role of UK Prime Minister earlier this week, one of her earliest priorities is to tackle soaring energy prices and an overall cost of living crisis in the country. Whilst much of the attention has inevitably been on homeowners and domestic energy costs, there has been growing unrest within the business community on how such rapidly rising costs will impact them. The print industry is notably susceptible to this situation, owing to the energy required to power a factory and run presses and other essential equipment.
GPMA consists of trade associations representing companies operating in the graphics and print media industry supply chain and represents more than 7500 companies, of which many are SMEs but who collectively have an annual turnover in the region of £14 billion and employ approximately 130,000 people.
Noting the ‘sheer scale’ of recent cost increases and how they ‘cannot be overstated’ – with some printing businesses seeing price rises of up to 600% in the last 12 months – GPMA stated that graphics and print media businesses have been left to choose between seeking to increase prices for business customers and trying to absorb high levels of additional cost.
‘It is clear that neither of these options is sustainable in the long-term, making it likely that costs passed onto consumers will both neutralise the impact of Government support for households and also result in business failures,’ the association warned.
Moreover, GPMA cited business leaders who have gone on record to state that, without immediate action, viable businesses are at risk of being overwhelmed by unsustainable price rises and a breakdown of supply chain integrity. Job losses would logically then follow, alongside a reduction in the amount of investment by the business community.
‘Saving businesses from the most vicious economic conditions in a generation must be a top priority in cabinet and Whitehall,’ GPMA has concluded.
In a joint statement, Charles Jarrold, GPMA chair and BPIF CEO, and Printing Industry Confederation CEO Bettine Pellant, said ‘The Government’s primary concern is of course helping households most at risk. Yet an unavoidable consequence of unchecked cost increases for businesses will be ever-spiralling cost increases for consumers, potentially cancelling out the impact of Government support for individuals.
‘It was hoped that 2022 would be the year that graphics and print media businesses could move forward and build back stronger: it is now clear that this will be impossible without urgent Government action to cap industrial energy costs. An unprecedented crisis demands unprecedented intervention.
‘The new Prime Minister must move decisively to save jobs, save consumers money, and save our sector from an unsustainable blow. Inaction is no longer an option.’
Read the September/October 2022 issue of Digital Labels & Packaging for more on the ‘cost of business crisis’ impacting the print industry, not only in the UK but around the world; register here to receive the magazine
