Stationery prices to rise by 25-40% — sector leader

AMMAN — President of the Syndicate of the Stationery, Bookshops, and Office Equipment Trade and Manufacturers Association Ashraf Kawar told local media on Tuesday that prices of stationery equipment are expected to increase by 25 percent to 40 percent.اضافة اعلان

He attributed this price hike to an increase in the cost of raw materials used to manufacture stationery, in addition to skyrocketing shipping costs.

In remarks to Jordan News, Kawar explained that “the market currently does not have school supplies in a sufficient quantity.” While supplies exist in certain amounts, they are not enough to meet the demand that will emerge when students return to school in the fall.

For example, while notebooks are of the few school supplies that are manufactured in Jordan, the current stock will not cover back-to-school purchases.



(Graphic: Jordan News) 

This forces merchants to look to the global market. Currently, the prices of raw materials like paper and cardboard have increased by 10 to 15 percent worldwide, not to mention shipping costs. As Kawar explained, a 40-foot shipping container from East Asia, which was previously priced at $3,000, currently ships for $12,000.

While Kawar expects that a lack of stationery after being out of school for over a year will push students to the stationery market, he worries that the increase in prices – owing to the need to import – will negatively affect the quantities bought. He added that stationery merchants will bear the brunt of this reluctance to buy.

“Let’s not forget that school supplies coming from the Far East are subject to tariffs,” he said.

The total cost of importing is comprised of “the price of the supplies themselves, the increase in the price of both raw materials and shipping, tariffs upon their arrival in Aqaba, which is usually around 35 percent, and sales tax.”

 “I think school supplies must be exempted from tariffs… We have asked for this, but it hasn’t happened unfortunately,” he continued.
An employee at Istiklal Library – a stationery shop in Amman – who preferred anonymity, told Jordan News that Tuesday’s announcement is not surprising.

“This is something obvious and known. Shipping prices are up, prices of goods are up.”

“This will definitely affect sales. Buying is already slow in the country,” he added.

An employee at Wadi Saqra Bookshop, who also asked to remain unnamed, said that sales might not necessarily be impacted.
“If kids are going back to school, they’re going to need to buy stationery… People need to buy, so it’s not going to make a difference.”

Mohammad Alwan, an official at the Ministry of Education, told Jordan News that he does not think the price hike will affect student access to school supplies.

 “I don’t think the increase will be at the same rate that people are expecting, because there is a good amount of stock that has built up over the last two [school] years,” when demand for stationery was low due to online learning.

“Shipping costs will raise prices on imported goods, but not what currently exists in inventory,” he added.

“Stationery dealers are working in lockstep with the Ministry [of Education], which plans on a return to in-person learning per statements from the Minister, the government, and media… This has moved merchants in the direction of communicating with external bodies to import the necessary supplies for this next step, which will occur in September.”

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