The Inks Market – Shades of Gray

By Cynthia Challener

The printing ink industry, including ink manufacturers and their suppli­ers of key ingredients such as solvents, resins, waxes, oils, and other addi­tives, has faced challenging market conditions in recent years, with little change expected in the months to come. Higher raw material and energy costs, increasing globalization, competition from China and India, offshore production of key substrates, and growing interest in electronic media all threaten the profitability of the printing ink market.

Annual sales for the U.S. printing ink industry are estimated by the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM) to be $4.2 bil­lion. Industry sources estimate the global market for ink and overprint to be in the neighborhood of $15 billion, according to Susan Anderson, a director with the management consulting firm The ChemQuest Group.

North America and Western Europe each account for about 30% of the market, but printing ink sales have matured in these regions. China and India, however, are experiencing growth rates in printing of as much as 10% per year, as liter­acy, wealth, and manufacturing are all increasing in these countries.

Printing processes vary according to the type of substrate and end use ap­plication. Printing ink composition changes to meet the requirements of the process, substrate, and application as well. NAPIM identifies three main ap­plication areas for printing inks. Publication is the largest end-use, followed by commercial (advertising, brochures, etc.), and then packaging.

Offset or lithography inks are the major type of inks used in the U.S. These inks are typically highly viscous oil-based paste inks with a high pig­ment concentration. Very thin films are applied using offset blankets to transfer the ink from the litho plate to the substrate.

The resins dry by oxida­tion or heat evaporation. About 98% of offset inks are solvent-based, with the remaining 2% energy-cured, using ultraviolet (UV) or electron beam (EB) technology, according to Steven Nerlfi, a consultant with market re­search firm Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney. The U.S. market for offset inks is estimated by Mr. Nerlfi to be valued at $1.2 billion with an overall growth rate of 1% per year. Energy-cured offset inks are leading the way, growing at 5% per year.