The company blamed upward pressure on raw material and paper prices for the increases which it was now passing onto its customers.
"We continue to operate in inflationary conditions," said Adam Wood, vice president, Sonoco-Alcore Europe. "Recovered paper prices are still increasing, driven by global supply and demand, and this coupled with starch and other key materials is forcing us to pass increases through to our customers."
He added. “We have still not fully recovered raw material rises in 2010 even with the cost reduction programs we had in place. We can no longer absorb the magnitude of these increases."
The company’s tube and core business had also been hard-hit by what he called “unprecedented conditions” as he warned coreboard customers to expect a rise in prices.
Sonoco-Alcore S.a.r.l. is a Sonoco subsidiary and operates 30 tube and core plants, as well as six paper mills in Europe.