The first few months of 2005 will be a crunch period for ink makers in Europe, as they will be stepping up their drive to persuade customers to accept higher selling prices to offset hikes in raw material costs. Ink producers are claiming that increases in input costs have been so massive that a sharp rise in ink prices is crucial to the future of the sector. All ink companies have been suffering an unprecedented erosion in margins so none can escape the need to push up prices. “Previous...