Publishers to set higher prices at Ekushey book fair

Workers are seen preparing books for the Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela, a monthlong national book fair held in February each year. While the ongoing global crises have increased production costs, publishers are eyeing better sales in this edition following three years of downturn amid the coronavirus pandemic. PHOTO: Palash Khan

Publishers are gearing up for the upcoming Ekushey book fair despite multipronged challenges as a sense of festivity surrounding the monthlong book fair has returned for the first time in three years.

Since 2020, the national event held in February each year has been marred by poor sales amid the economic uncertainly brought on by Covid-19.

And while these trepidations have long past, books will be at least 20 to 30 per cent costlier this year due to the skyrocketing price of paper, according to various publishers.

However, publishers are implementing cost optimisation and lower profit margins so that book prices are lower than what they could be considering how the cost of both 100-gramme and 80-gramme offset paper roughly doubled over the past year.

Many publishers, especially those who sell non-educational books, were hit hard by the pandemic as sales had taken a nosedive in the face of decreased demand for non-essentials at the time.