Kodak Alaris is raising the prices on all its films in January, the company announced on Friday (29 November).

Kodak Alaris (which produces and markets Kodak film products) has said the increases were partly due to the increased demand for film, which has meant film producer Kodak has begun investing in extra production capacity.

The price increase will take effect on 1 January 2020. There is no indication yet how large the increase will be.

The announcement comes on the back of a drought of Kodak films, especially in Europe, with popular emulsions such as the Portra films and Colorplus 200 unavailable for weeks or even months at a time in the last year.

The release, which was sent to its distributors and retailers, reads: “2019 has been exceptional year for film, Kodak Alaris has seen increasing demand for film with new interest in traditional photography growing and a decline in the volume of film our key competitor has released to the market.

Overall we have seen the level of customer back orders increase to an unprecedented level – KODAK ALARIS

“Our market share has grown and levels of positivity towards shooting film not seen for many years has returned. These changes have also come with some problems, in recent years film supply has only just kept pace with market demand during the peak season but this year the increased demand has resulted in the highest level of Kodak Alaris film sales for some years leading to supply issues for most of our film lines.

“We have had to prioritise production of the most important film types, for example Professional film which is critical to many professional photographers. Overall we have seen the level of customer back orders increase to an unprecedented level, we understand this creates a difficult issue for our customers and end users but film production has been limited by a finite supply of one of the key components used to produce film.

“Kodak Alaris’s film supply comes from a single dedicated supplier, we are beholden to this supplier for all the film we sell across the world. Our supplier has recognised the increased demand for film and started to initiate plans to increase their volume capacity. A large ongoing financial investment has been made to increase production capacity but unfortunately the benefits of this investment will not be realised until much later in 2020, with some additional benefits being delivered in 2021.”

The release was made public by Finland’s Kamerastore.

Kodak Alaris said it cannot absorb the extra costs involved in Kodak increasing its capacity. It said the price rises will be “significant”.

Kodak Alaris also said it is cancelling all back orders for film made during 2019.

“Due to the size of the increase and the high level of back orders we have accumulated in 2019 we need to take the unusual step of cancelling all film and OTUC (One Time Use Cameras )back orders at the time of the price increase being applied.

“Cancelling all the current orders for film and OTUC’s is necessary due to the unprecedented volume of back orders we are holding. If we delivered all this film at the old customer prices whilst buying it at the new prices from our supplier we would lose a substantial amount of money which would damage our film business as a whole. Therefore we need to raise the price of film and apply the price change for all orders shipped from the first of January 2020, this action will ensure the longevity of our ability to supply the market with film products.”

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