Printing presses, packaging converters and in-house print rooms in the UAE buy from paper merchants, ink distributors and prepress suppliers clustered mainly in Dubai's Al Quoz and Al Qusais, Sharjah Industrial Area and Jebel Ali. Much of the paper sold here is imported, which is why a quote's stock-or-import line matters as much as its price.
The words on a paper quote
- GSM: grams per square metre — the paper's weight, and the first thing any merchant will ask. Copier paper is usually 70–80 gsm; brochure covers often 250–350 gsm.
- Coated or uncoated: coated (art) paper comes in gloss, silk or matt and holds sharp colour; uncoated (woodfree offset) is the paper of letterheads, books and forms.
- Board: art card, folding box board and duplex (grey-backed) board for packaging and covers, often specified by GSM or by thickness in microns.
- Sheet size: offset presses run large sheets such as 70 × 100 cm; digital presses run SRA3 and similar. Reels are quoted by width and weight.
- Grain direction: long grain or short grain. It decides how the paper folds and feeds, and a press operator will notice if it is wrong.
- Ream: 500 sheets. Merchants quote per ream, per 1,000 sheets or per tonne.
Turning a tonne price into a ream price
Two merchants quoting in different units cannot be compared until you convert. The weight of a ream is sheet area × GSM × 500. An A4 sheet is 0.06237 m², so a ream of 80 gsm A4 weighs about 2.5 kg and a tonne is roughly 400 reams. A 70 × 100 cm sheet is 0.7 m², so a ream of 80 gsm weighs 28 kg and a tonne is about 36 reams. Do this once for your sheet size and every quote lines up.
Beyond paper: inks, plates and consumables
- Inks: process CMYK sets and Pantone spot colours for offset, quoted per kilogram, plus UV inks for UV presses. Say which press and which drying system.
- CTP plates: thermal or violet, by size and gauge, quoted per box or per plate. Plates must match your platesetter, so give its make and model.
- Pressroom consumables: blankets, fountain solution, washes and rollers — small items that add up over a year.
- Finishing: lamination film in gloss, matt or soft-touch by the roll, UV varnish, foil and binding supplies.
A quote for '80 gsm' is not a quote for your brand of 80 gsm unless it says so.
Why two printing paper quotes rarely match
Three reasons come up again and again. First, substitution: the cheaper ream is often from a different mill, offered as an equivalent without saying so. Second, the unit: one quote per ream, one per tonne, one per 1,000 sheets. Third, delivery and VAT: one price delivered and VAT-inclusive, another ex-warehouse and before 5% VAT. Ask every merchant for the brand or mill, one unit, and a delivered price excluding VAT, and the spread usually narrows to the real one.
What to send printing material suppliers
- Paper type, GSM, finish, sheet size or reel width, and grain direction.
- The brand or mill you want, and whether you accept an equivalent.
- Quantity now, and the monthly quantity if this will repeat.
- For plates and inks: the press or platesetter make and model.
- Delivery address, the date you need it, and the unit you want the price in.
A filled-in version is example 3 in our RFQ examples.
Quick answers
Should I buy paper on a contract or job by job? If you use the same paper every month, ask merchants for a price on a standing monthly quantity — it gives them a reason to hold stock for you. Paper prices move with pulp and freight, so expect the price to be held for a period rather than for ever.
Is imported paper cheaper than buying locally? For a full container of one grade, sometimes. For mixed or urgent orders, a local merchant's stock usually wins once freight, duty, VAT and waiting time are counted — see UAE import duty and VAT.
Getting quotes from several merchants at once
Our AI procurement platform finds printing material suppliers for your request, lets you remove any you do not want, and has the voice agent call the rest at the same time — asking each for the brand, the unit price at your quantity, stock and delivery. The category is covered in more detail on our printing material suppliers page.