Sanctions against the Russian economy are starting to affect the printing industry, particularly those with digital presses. The universal condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine followed by international companies suspending operations in the country is having an effect.
Printers are finding it almost impossible to order consumables and spares for digital presses. All these have to be imported into the country through routes that are now closed off.
Distributors for the likes of Xerox, Ricoh, Canon and Konica Minolta are, according to reports, fielding calls from printers anxious to be able to print.
Currently printers are being supplied according to monthly click volumes, but this will not continue for long and prices are rising sharply.
The hope is that there will be official, or not quite official, supply routes through countries that have not yet applied sanctions on Russia. Manufacturers will, however, be uncomfortable with anything that looks like attempts to circumvent sanctions. Turkey is being suggested as the most likely path into Russia, though this will take time to organise and the price will be high, even with the steep devaluation of the rouble to cope with.
Elsewhere Russian proposals to help businesses hit by the imposition of sanctions include suspension of rules around the use of printed labels. The existing rules, covering dairy products and bottled water, will be suspended for a year following a government decision issued last week.
Dupont has joined the list of suppliers that have announced they will not be operating in the country. It is suspending operations in Russia and Belarus. There has been no further statements from packaging printers that are active in Russia. However, decisions by customers to suspend operations can have a knock-on effect. The decision by fast food chains to shut restaurants across the country will surely affect suppliers like Huhtamaki, which supplies these outlets with packaging, paper straws and cups and which has been investing in its production facilities in the country.
Printers in Ukraine continue to print for the armed forces and offer whatever support they can. In Kyiv, printers that are unable to deliver normally are using vans to ship food and medicines to defence units and to carry refugees to Lviv, returning with aid.
This might include contributions from a shipment organised by the UK’s display graphics sector following an appeal by Dan Tyler, owner of Vism, which has raised £12,000 for Ukraine appeals and which has shipped half of that to the country. The Vism software development team is located in the city.
In Kharkiv, one of the country’s largest book printers Unisoft reports that it has suffered some damage, but not to equipment nor harm to its personnel while Ukrainian online print business Vizitka has pulled the plug on 18 sites that were operating in Russia or Belarus and has switched strategy to focus future growth towards the west rather than east.
