Prices for notebooks, diaries and textbooks increased by a quarter in a year

Growing retail…

Retail prices of nearly all school paper and white goods – including business and regular notebooks, textbooks, diaries – have increased 20-30% over the past year. This was reported to socialbites.ca by market participants and financial data operator OFD Platform.

According to Oleg Novikov, head of the Eksmo-AST publishing group, the main reason for the increase in the prices of educational materials for schoolchildren is related to the increase in the cost of production of books in March.

“In March, this figure increased by 30%, we plan to maintain this level for now. Compared to June last year, the increase in the prices of school textbooks does not exceed 20-26% on average,” Novikov said.

As Leonid Simakov from CheckIndex (an analytical resource of the OFD Platform) told socialbites.ca, the average cost of a series of laptops in Russia in the second half of July 2022 was 386 rubles. During the year, the growth is not as significant as in the textbooks – only 5%. But the average check of a school diary increased by 31% compared to last year’s figures – up to 181 rubles.

…and production cost

The purchase and production prices of paper and white products – notebooks, diaries and textbooks – increased even more: 50%. Lyudmila Shevareva, head of the marketing and sales department of Mayak Kants LLC, in a conversation with socialbites.ca said that the main reason for the increase in the cost of paper products is the increase in the cost of raw materials.

“Unfortunately, over the last two or three years there has been a steady increase in the cost of our main raw material – paper accounts for 80-85% of the cost of ledgers,” Shevareva said.

He added that prices for other raw materials, including printing inks, packaging and wire, have also increased since the beginning of 2022. “This raw material is also used in making notebooks and albums. Compared to last summer, the price increase was about one and a half times,” Shevareva summarized.

The one-and-a-half-fold increase in the purchase prices of notebooks, textbooks and stationery was also confirmed by the school supplies wholesaler Iglika-Press.

“Compared to last year, our purchase prices for workbooks increased by 50%. Pretty much the same for the office,” said Iglika-Press.

However, Biblio-Globus said that the increase in the prices of textbooks since the beginning of 2022 generally matches the upward trend of recent years.

“The cost of textbooks increases in the same way as other book products: about 5-7% per year. “The year 2022 was no exception,” said Biblio-Globus.

A diary for a primary school student can currently be purchased for 80 rubles (in a simple cover, bound under a paper clip) to 700 rubles (a faux leather cover with lace). Notebooks with 12 pages in a cage or ruler, depending on the quality of the cover, are sold from 8 to 70 rubles.

“At the end of the first quarter of 2022, supplier prices for white paper products increased by approximately 30-50%, then the situation returned to normal, prices were balanced considering annual inflation and today are in line with retail expectations” Biblio-Globus concluded.

What did CheckIndex count?

Earlier in the week, CheckIndex calculated that the cost of a school established in the second half of July increased by 4% compared to June and by 20% compared to last year, to approximately 14 thousand rubles (13,919 rubles). This kit includes: a school uniform and shoes, a second pair of trousers or a skirt, as well as a diary, a pencil case, a set of pencils, pens, paints, notebooks, backpacks and other items.

The head of the youth assembly of the State Duma, Dmitry Shatunov, asked the Federal Antitrust Service (FAS) to check the validity of the increase in the price of school supplies. Shatunov’s initiative was supported by the Federation Council. According to Lilia Gumerova, chair of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture, if the increase in the cost of a school set is justified, the state should reimburse part of the costs to those whose financial situation is difficult.

In an interview with socialbites.ca, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Education Committee Yana Lantratova decided that in the face of rising prices of printed materials, authorities should pay attention to price regulation.

“Something needs to be done about the sharp rise in the prices of printed educational products. Rather, here it is necessary to raise the question of whether the prices of textbooks should not rise so much. This article should be edited without errors, but in no case should we go to the complete rejection of printed textbooks. This step will cause great dissatisfaction in the parent community,” he said. In his opinion, replacing textbooks with tablets is not worth it – in schools, electronic gadgets should be used in addition to traditional textbooks.

At the beginning of August, the retail prices of textbooks increased by 20-26%, 31% for diaries. Prices for the purchase and production of paper products – notebooks, textbooks and diaries – increased even more. The main reason for this is the 1.5 times increase in the cost of raw materials, paper and printing inks. The FAS has already received requests to control the price increase for school supplies. The State Duma agrees that the cost of textbooks and notebooks should be regulated.



Source: Gazeta

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