CHICAGO—  The challenges of 2021 imposed on the ink manufacturing industry have been well documented by all major global ink manufacturers. The ink and print industries continue to face numerous challenges surrounding rapidly increasing costs, increased demand for raw materials and shortages in local and international logistics and freight. Flint Global Sheetfed Business Director, Nick Brannan “ Logistics have, however, been strained worldwide”, Brannan continued, “with sea freight costs having quadrupled and shipping time increasing in some cases from 3 to 8 weeks. A worldwide shortage of container availability has further exacerbated this situation. Local logistics has also been greatly affected; Covid-19 has, in some cases, caused reduction in manpower, greatly impacting the supply chain in both EMEA and North America.” Brannan concluded that “global raw material shortages continue to be a serious concern to the industry. The environment to secure raw materials is extremely competitive, and raw material costs are showing no sign of stabilizing. Increasing costs of raw materials and logistics will be with us all for some time, and we will continue to see costs rise globally as we compete for reduced resources.