The company's move follows similar announcements by other suppliers, mainly in the plastics packaging industry, which as a whole is facing increases in the cost of resins, energy, and transportation due to the increases in prices for petroleum.
The company said the increase is due to continued and rapid increases in raw material prices as well as shortages of many key ingredients in the market.
The increases, effective from 1 January, will cover inks, coatings, fountain solutions and other printing products.
Felipe Mellado, corporate vice president of marketing for Sun Chemical Europe said the company is working to cut down its costs so it would not have to pass all the increases in price to customers.
"Sun Chemical is proactively working with its supplier base, monitoring industry conditions and continuing internal efficiency programmes to mitigate the impact of rising costs, material scarcities and transportation availability," he stated. "However, given the rapidity and scale of cost increases, we are forced to implement price increases to cover basic costs that are not expected to drop any time soon."
Netherlands-based Sun Chemical is the world's largest producer of printing inks and pigments. The company has annual sales of about $4 billion.
This week Graham Packaging, one of the world's leading suppliers of plastic packaging, announced it would increase prices by three per cent from 5 January.
Graham Packaging provides customized blow-molded plastic containers for the branded food and beverage sectors. It also provides containers for the household and personal care industries.
The company is a leading US supplier of plastic containers for hot-fill juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, drinkable yogurt and smoothies. It also supplies containers for nutritional supplements and for dressings, condiments and beers.
The company produces about 20 billion container units annually at 88 plants in North America, Europe, and South America. The company's sales for the last 12 months was $2.4 billion.
In October Amcor, the world's largest producer of PET, said it was increasing prices for the third time this year. Some polyolefins prices rose by 20 per cent that month, with more hikes expected, according to European Plastics News.
Last week, ratings agency Standard & Poor's said the global packaging sector would continue to suffer as a result of increased cost inflation from high and volatile raw-material prices, both in the US and Europe.