Sustainability (Cont’d from Page 1)
Since the end of January, FINAT, national label associations and individual label printers have ap- pealed to the parties concerned in the strike to take into consideration the broader impact of the dispute to their downstream customers: labelstock producers, label manufacturers, brand-owners, re- tailers and, finally, the consumers in the shops or online. So far, these appeals have not been reflect- ed in an acceleration of the negotiation process. “As we have seen during the Pandemic, labels are an indispensable component of the essential in- frastructure that are difficult to replace,” said FI- NAT President Philippe Voet. “Without an adequate pipeline of raw materials, label converters will be forced to extend lead times, prioritize customers, put part of the capacity on hold and send work- ers on leave because there are simply not enough materials to convert to labels. We once again ap- peal to the partners engaged in the dispute to do everything possible to resume production without further delay. Against the already tight supply chain conditions since last summer and now the hideous invasion of Ukraine by a neighboring country, a further extension of the strike even beyond the cur- rent date of April 2 would be socially and econom- ically unsustainable.”
since last summer, the fortunes of the label indus- try have turned dramatically since the beginning of 2022 by long-lasting union strikes in a specialty paper mill in Finland and recently, another supplier in Spain. The mills on strike are responsible for more than 25 percent of the paper grades used for the manu- facture of materials used to print, embellish and cut self-adhesive labels in Europe. Although the supply chain of raw materials for labels has been under- pinned relatively successfully in early 2022 by la- bel converters themselves (largely funded by the strong preceding trade period and existing label material reserves), this trend is unlikely to continue into the second quarter of 2022. Persistent self-ad- hesive materials shortages could then severely dis- rupt the supply of functional and regulatory labels and packaging in food, pharmaceutical, healthcare and logistics sectors around Europe. Reaching The Stars Assuming an average “gross” size of 10 cm2 per label, 8.5 billion square meters consumed in Eu- rope per annum corresponds with an astronomic amount of nearly 16.5 billion labels consumed each week. That’s nearly 50 labels per capita (per week).
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Flexo Market News March 28, 2022 3
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