BELGIAN—  Agfa announced that it will globally increase the prices of its offset printing plates. Offset plate prices will increase by up to 10%, effective August 1st 2021 as contracts permit. This is in addition to the previously announced and implemented increase and will likely be followed by subsequent increases as the trend continues. The ongoing rise of raw material costs, particularly aluminum, energy and packaging materials, in combination with high freight rates, make price adjustments unavoidable. The price for aluminum, the key component of an offset printing plate, peaked in June at more than 2,500 USD/ton. Prices for packaging materials almost doubled in a couple of months.