I took a roll of film to be developed yesterday and while there asked why the price of 35 mm film has increased so much. The dealer reported that maybe FUJI was possibly discontinuing film manufacture was part of the reason for the price increase. He also said one large distributor raised his prices because of the departure of the film business by Fuji.
That is complete nonsense!
Your totally incompetent dealer should have a look at the latest Fujifilm financial quarter report: Fujifilm is making about 14% of their total revenue with their analog photo products. But only 4% with their digital photo products. And this relation has increased in favour of the film related products over the years.
Fujifilm has also officially announced at the biggest global photo fair Photokina in 2018 that they are committed to film production and will continue it.
Besides that Fujifilm has significantly increasing demand for film. That is what all distributors are saying: Demand is surpassing supply, so that some film types are regularly sold out, like Fujicolor C200 and X-Tra400.
The real reasons for the recent price increases were:
1. Increased raw material costs.
2. All manufacturers are doing new investments in new machinery and new products because of the film revival. These investments need fresh capital.
3. Increasing demand.
You should change your dealer, and go to someone who knows his industry!
Also will Kodak continue to produce color 35mm film?
Of course, they are investing in new production capacities. The same is true for Fuji.
