The business is the world’s biggest supplier of printing inks, and along with parent group DIC has sales of more than $7.5bn (£5.4bn).

Sun Chemical said the price increases would involve a “broad portfolio” of its products including inks for commercial sheetfed and packaging printing, as well as coatings and adhesives.

The likely percentage increase in prices was not specified, and will be communicated directly to customers.

Sun Chemical EMEA director of product strategy Nicolas Bétin commented: “The pressure across the supply chain is causing an abrupt rise in raw material costs and unfortunately requires us to increase customer prices. We will continue to work with our sourcing partners to manage and minimise the impact on our customers.”

The manufacturer said that raw material shortages included petrochemical and vegetable oils, and derivatives. At the same time international freight transport costs had “dramatically increased”, while demand had gone up due to economic recovery.

“As a leading ink supplier, Sun Chemical is working hard to mitigate rising costs by implementing internal improvement programs and by maintaining very close communication with its suppliers and industry associations to ensure it is fully aligned to the latest procurement situation,” the firm stated.

The increases will take effect from 1 March.

The BBC recently reported that the price of shipping containers had rocketed because of the disruptions to international supply chains caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. One importer said the cost of a container had gone from £1,600 to more than £10,000 in the space of three months.

Last spring Sun Chemical had to implement a surcharge because the early months of the pandemic resulted in rocketing ethanol prices.