Global Ink Industry Outlook

Entering the new century, the ink industry in various countries has continuously updated, improved and improved its printing technologies and equipment. With the promotion of packaging and printing and commercial printing, the product quality requirements have been increasingly promoted, and the industrial structure, production, sales, and product varieties have been developed simultaneously. It is introduced in three parts.

Ink production and sales

Into the 21st century, the global ink manufacturing industry has been in turmoil and mergers, but in the past few years, the overall level of global ink production has not been affected, but also steadily increased, Table 1 ~ Table 3 is the new century One year, 2001 world ink industry statistics, specifically described the production and sales status of the world ink industry in the new century. From Table 1, we can see that the Chinese ink industry has undergone structural changes, while its production capacity has also gradually increased. It has already ranked among the top in the industry in the world. China’s ink production ranks fourth in the world, indicating that the Chinese ink industry is Rapid development.

The status of ink manufacturing

In 2001, the international ink manufacturing industry developed steadily after turbulence, mergers and mergers. In recent years, foreign ink manufacturers, their suppliers of chemical materials, and the printing industry have been pursuing acquisition strategies. As early as 1999, mergers and acquisitions began, and the pattern of the ink manufacturing industry has changed. There have been ink manufacturers and chemical companies. Competition and challenges among material manufacturing companies have accelerated the steady development of the global ink industry in the new century.

Japan's DIC Ink Chemical Co., Ltd., the world's No. 1 ink manufacturer, not only merged with SUN CHEMICAL, but also signed with COATES LORILLEUX in June 1999. The letter of intent for the acquisition of COATES was ranked third in the world with sales of 890 million U.S. dollars. After the merger with COATES, it was added with 2.5 billion U.S. dollars of SUN CHEMICAL. Total sales amounted to 4.79 billion U.S. dollars. The total sales volume of the world ink industry market is about 12 billion U.S. dollars, and the sales of Japan's DIC Ink Chemical Co., Ltd. after the merger accounted for about 40% of the world's total sales. It can be said that Japan Ink Chemical Corporation (DIC) is the world's largest ink manufacturer. In 2001, its ink sales amounted to 4.21 billion US dollars, ranking first in the world's ink industry. In addition, the company also produces organic pigments and unsaturated resin products, with annual sales of about 8.8 billion US dollars. Now, the company has also spotted the Chinese market and has invested in the first phase of the production of organic pigments and printing inks in Nantong Economic and Technological Development Zone, Jiangsu Province, China. The investment amount is 30 million US dollars and the final investment is expected to reach 70 million US dollars.

The world's second-largest ink manufacturer, the American Flint Ink Company, has achieved the merger of the world's two largest ink companies in 1999, SACRAMENTO Ink Company and INK COMPANY, making Flint Company Scale and product areas have been expanded. The company also spotted China's large market and established a Web Offset Printing Ink manufacturing facility with an annual output capacity of 10,000 tons in Beijing Daxing, which was put into operation in 2003.

The third-ranked Toyo Ink Co., Ltd. signed an agreement with SAKATA INX on November 15, 1999 as a strategic alliance partner. At the time, Japan's Toyo Ink Co., Ltd. had sales of US$876 million, and Sakata ink was US$570 million. After the alliance, it became the world’s largest ink manufacturer.

Mergers and acquisitions also took place in the manufacture of chemical materials for inks. For example, in January 1999, U.S. International Paper Co., Ltd. acquired Unio Camp, established Arizona Chemical, and Eastman. The company merged with Lawter Resins.

Ink product structure

Table 4 lists the statistics of foreign ink product structure. Table 5 lists the product type statistics table of 192 ink manufacturing companies in the United States. It is not difficult to see from the statistical data that the structure and production of integrated ink products in the United States.

(1) Offset printing ink

The production of offset printing inks in the United States has been stable for many years. There are 96 companies that produce offset printing inks, accounting for about 1/2 of all manufacturers. The main reason is that the world’s advanced countries are fast and easy to make plates, and they have begun to use CTP technology with printing quality. High, wide range of paper use, printing elasticity and other advantages, therefore, the world's offset inks still account for about 40% of the total, which in addition to the decline in the traditional sheetfed offset printing inks, web offset printing inks, especially Thermosetting offset printing inks are still growing rapidly, which is mainly due to the increase in the print output of current color publications such as newspapers, magazines and textbooks.

(2) Flexo and gravure inks

From the current situation of foreign packaging and printing flexographic and gravure printing inks, it is still rising and developing.

(3) Other inks

The demand for packaging, specialty and functional inks has also increased. For example, UV+EB inks have been used in the United States, Germany, and Japan. The use of UV inks in Britain is more common than before. In Table 5, 192 ink suppliers listed in the United States, many of which have invested in the production of UV+EB inks since 1999, and special-purpose inks, such as anti-counterfeit, thermal transfer, ink-jet printing inks, etc. The amount is also increasing. In addition, among the 34 screen printing ink manufacturers listed in the table, 5 of them are manufacturers specializing in screen printing inks.

Source: Printing Technology