” It is the end of beans “, the user Banzarty75 is sorry on Twitter. The origin of his despair: the announcement by the publisher Panini Manga, but also by Pika Edition, an increase in the price of certain manga.
Posted Friday December 3, the press release Panini Manga, which publishes in particular Demon Slayer Where 20th Century Boys, details a price increase ranging from 20 cents to one euro per book, depending on the format. The price increase will not be effective until the 1is January. « Go me [“Il ne me reste plus qu’à”] catch up with “Demon Slayer” before January… ”, launched the Internet user Bebamimi1 on Twitter, specifying “Sorry but I’m poor”. Over the entire series of 23 volumes, the price increase will be 4.6 euros.
[COMMUNICATION]
Following the generalized crisis in paper and cardboard and generally soaring prices… https://t.co/i8AjlKVVAv
Readers of Pika Edition manga, which publishes The attack of the Titans Where Blue PeriodThey will not be able to rush into bookstores to try to save money: the publisher announced on Monday, December 6 a price hike of 20 cents for certain manga, an effective increase since the beginning of the month.
[CHANGEMENT DE PRIX]
As of December 1, our price code PK41 goes from € 7.75 to € 7.95 including tax. The impact series … https://t.co/w2YkFJobOf
Pulp shortage
What are the reasons for the increase? For Pika Edition, this is a harmonization at the margin of its price list, which only concerns certain volumes of six of its series, out of the hundred that it publishes in total. “For the moment, we are not passing on the increase in the price of paper on the price of our manga”, assure the World the French publishing house.
Panini (who, on Facebook, also announced the price hikes for some of his comics), on the other hand, justifies this price hike by invoking the “Paper crisis”, which has affected the entire sector since the end of spring.
The shortage is due to a cyclical supply difficulty for printers, of which the health crisis is the main factor: the activity of paper makers decreased in 2020 before experiencing a very strong jump in demand at the beginning of 2021, which wreaked havoc on stocks.
The explosion in paper consumption in other sectors, such as cardboard packaging, as well as the closure of certain ports and the vagaries of the weather also automatically increase manufacturing costs for publishers.
In September, Pascal Lenoir, president of the environment and manufacturing commission of the National Publishing Union, explained to the World that it was a “Temporary malfunction”. Three months later, the situation is not yet back to normal.
No general increase
Sandwiches at-il “Opened Pandora’s box” by raising its prices, as suggested, on December 7, the internet user XVIInumberXVII in a tweet? Even though all publishers are affected by increases in manufacturing costs, the increase in prices is far from being generalized in the manga: other companies in the sector, like Ki-oon, Kazé, Kurokawa or Delcourt, informed the BFM-TV site that they weren’t considering raising their prices at this time.
Until now, the manga in France is rather associated with the great success that it meets in bookstores. It accounted for 48% of comics sold in 2020, thus being the number one growth driver for the sector. This sector was also growing sharply in France: sales had increased by 18% in 2020, compared to 2019, according to a study conducted by the GfK institute.