The company, which announced planned redundancies at a Scottish subsidiary last week, is blaming a 'highly volatile raw materials market', demand from emerging markets for printing materials, and the Eurozone crisis.

A statement from the company also warned that some increases may be even higher than six percent depending on the type of product.

“The situation is further aggravated by the weak Euro, as most world market base materials are traded in US dollar or related currencies, like the Chinese Yuen,” says Wolfgang Blumschein, vice-president sales, print media Europe.

“This will inflate the raw material prices even further for the foreseeable future.

“In addition, to these pressures on the raw material markets, significant cost increases in transport, packaging and energy have also had an impact on our industry and are expected to rise further in 2013.”

The firm says it will be writing to every customer to explain the increases, which will come as a new year body blow to the industry.