BELGIAN—  Agfa  has announced that it will increase  globally the prices of its offset plates. Soaring input costs, particularly relevant to aluminum, energy and packaging materials, in combination with sharply rising freight rates due to global logistic constraints make price increases unavoidable. Prices of offset plates will increase between 5 and 10%, taking effect from April 1st 2021. Despite internal cost reductions, the magnitude of rising prices is no longer sustainable. The price increase Agfa says  will be partly offset, as printers will benefit from higher aluminum prices when they recycle their used plates. Last week Agfa  said it is “ready to contemplate” some sort of sale or merger of the group’s offset business in the face of overcapacity, a declining market and the price pressures that are affecting the group and its rivals. Several months ago Agfa announced a restructure at its Offset  business that would result in the operation being made a separate legal entity.