A report from Tootoo.com states that Chinese manufacturers are having to raise the prices of ink boxes due to the long term trend towards rising oil prices.
Information from Tootoo.com is that one chemical company announced in July that it would have to increase by 5% the base price of every ton of polyethylene and polypropylene graphite powder which has great impact on the ink box market. In addition the increasing price of oil has increased the prices of some low-price parts of ink box such as gasket rings and the price of some component of ink, such as glycerol is also increasing.
Petroleum is the main component of ink powder. It is also the basic component of the chemical agent in ink. With increasing oil prices, some companies that produce special chemical agents and color pastes, have had their profits squeezed — and have had to close factories or even go out of business.