Fujifilm has confirmed a new price rise affecting its remaining film stocks next month, which will see the price of some films rise by 60%.
The price rises – which first circulated in Japan – were first reported last week. In a table of products affected, Fujifilm Japan said the company’s films would rise in price by between 20% and 60% on 1 April.
This new price rise follows one in 2021 which saw the price of some films rise by 40% in the UK.
The rumoured price rises have been confirmed by YouTube channel Nico’s Photography News, which reported on them on Tuesday (29 March).
Films are not the only products rising in price – on 1 May colour photographic paper will rise in price by between 10% and 20% and colour film processing chemicals will rise by 10%.
On 1 June, prolab products, printed products and services will rise by between 10% and 94%.
The original statement from Fujiifilm (translated from Japanese on Fuji Rumors) said: “We would like to thank you for your continued support. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your continued support.
“We have endeavoured to absorb costs by improving production efficiency and reducing costs in response to the continuous decrease in demand for photographic film, photographic paper and printed products. However, due to the soaring prices of materials and raw materials in Corona, and the rise in transportation costs, it has become difficult to absorb them only by corporate efforts. I would like to say, we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience, but thank you for your patience. We look forward to your continued patronage of Fujifilm products.”
The price rises follow some confusion over whether the Japanese film producer – once rivalled in size only by Eastman Kodak – remains committed to producing film.
In February, Kosmo Foto reported a new rebranding of Fujifilm’s Fujicolor C200 in the US looked suspiciously like repackaged Kodak Gold 200 film.
In November last year, Fujifilm admitted that it had mothballed film production when the coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2021 but that it remained “committed to selling film“.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
- Rare Soviet Zenit-5 space camera under hammer this June - 16/04/2024
- Single Frame: Mr X - 14/04/2024
- CineStill releases 400D colour film in 4×5 format - 08/04/2024
“continuous decrease in demand for photographic film” – I somehow feel they are being less than truthful here!
It’s only a decrease for Fujifilm since they keep hiking up their prices! The demand for everyone else’s films is increasing.