David Savastano, Editor07.31.15
Asia-Pacific is the largest geographic market for ink manufacturers. A quick look at the top international companies illustrates the importance of the region, with five of the eight largest ink manufacturers – DIC Corporation, Toyo Ink Group, Sakata INX, T&K Toka and Tokyo Printing Ink – headquartered in Japan. In addition, hubergroup, the sixth-largest ink supplier, is the largest ink manufacturer in India through its Micro Inks subsidiary.
The Asia-Pacific region consists of a variety of smaller areas. China is the largest economy in the region, and Ink World will provide a more in-depth look at the Chinese ink industry in our September-October 2015 issue. Japan is a huge market, India is growing quickly in importance, as is South Asia, Southeast Asia and the ANZ (Australia-New Zealand) market.
Estimates of the size of the region’s printing ink industry vary. For example, hubergroup board member Ashwani Bhardwaj places the market at approximately $5 billion, with Japan the largest portion at $2 billion. Yuichi Kataura, GM of the International Operations Division of Sakata INX, reported that the estimated size of the printing market in Japan for 2014, not including figures for inkjet ink, was approximately 410,000 tons.
The Chinese ink market is likely more than $1 billion, with India thought to be at $750 million.
“India, Indonesia and Vietnam are among the fastest growing countries in this region,” Bhardwaj added, noting that the company is seeing growth in most segments.
Tadashi Nakano, manager, Global Innovation Division at Toyo Ink Co., Ltd., said that the Asia-Pacific region showed moderate growth, despite a slowing economy.
“The packaging segment continues to grow in the Asia-Pacific region, driven by booming populations, improved lifestyles and rapid industrialization in the developing countries in the region,” said Nakano. “In particular, sales of eco-friendly inks for packaging in the premium market segment expanded in Southeast Asia and India. Sales of gravure inks for publications in Japan remained on a declining trend. In addition, the domestic sales of mainstay gravure inks for packaging failed to grow after unseasonable weather during the summer.
“Although demand in China began to slow, demand continued to grow in Southeast Asia and India,” Nakano added. “Sales of our eco-friendly inks for the premium market segment expanded in these areas. Specifically, the Multistar series of toluene-free and MEK-free gravure lamination inks continues to do exceptionally well in Asian markets.
“As for offset inks, demand slowed down in the China market, but sales in Southeast Asia and India remained strong. In Japan, the sales of our advanced products increased, including products with high UV sensitivity and hard coat products used in touchscreen panels. However, demands for sheetfed printing, offset rotary printing and newspaper inks were weak due to the structural recession resulting from the shrinking printing market associated with digitization and the significant effect of the consumption tax hike.”
Kataura noted that Sakata INX enjoyed growth in India, China as well as Indonesia, with the company’s sales up 4.6% over 2013.
“Mostly due to weak demand for packaging ink, sales quantity did not grow in the latter half of 2014,” Kataura said. “However, sales of newspaper ink and offset ink grew in both India and China, resulting in a sales increase for Sakata INX in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Kataura added that the company is adding onto its Shiga plant in Japan as well as in China.
“Phase 2 construction of the Shiga, Japan plant is now taking place,” Kataura noted. “We also plan to build a new plant in Maoming, China.”
Shogo Tachibana of DIC Corporation’s Corporate Communications Department noted that DIC’s business in South Asia and Southeast Asia is expanding.
“The developing nations of Southeast Asia and South Asia enjoyed strong growth in most product categories,” Tachibana said. “Packaging was an area of growth, while the publication and commercial sector suffered due to a continuous transition of paper media to digital devices.
“India, Indonesia and Vietnam enjoy strong growth in almost all ink categories,” Tachibana added, noting that DIC concentrated resources into fast growing markets such as India and Indonesia.
Nakano said that Toyo Ink Group has been particularly active in India.
“In India, the Toyo Ink Group boosted our gravure inks production capacity and scaled up our inkjet inks operations with further enhancements to our Delhi plant,” Nakano reported. “We are pushing forward with plans in the country to develop a production base for a diversified lineup of group products, thus creating a multi-faceted operation in the country.
“In August 2014, we announced the completion of a second offset ink factory in Gujarat, India,” Nakano added. “The new plant not only supports demand in India, but it is also positioned as a global supply base for high-quality ink products for neighboring regions, such as Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. A new offset factory will also be launched in Sichuan province in fall 2015, to support rising demand in western China.”
Bhardwaj said that environmental issues are becoming very critical in the Asian region.
“Government regulations are getting more stringent and ink companies are gradually upgrading their own manufacturing processes and standards. Awareness among the printers and end users is growing and they are now demanding the ink manufacturers to follow the latest global product safety norms,” Bhardwaj added.
To meet these needs, hubergroup has developed new UV products within its NewV product family, which have been launched worldwide. The NewV range of products meets the highest standards in terms of product safety. NewV products are highly appreciated by the customers.
Hubergroup also introduced the Gecko product family, representing solvent-based packaging printing, in India early 2015. “That was one more step to make our product basket globally available to printers and brand owners,” Bhardwaj added.
“We’ve been seeing growth in water-based inks and eco-friendly printing techniques, driven by regulatory changes and increased awareness in the industry,” Nakano said. “Specifically, we consider water-based flexo inks for flexible packaging and the healthcare markets as areas of future growth. Sales have expanded for our Aqualiona and Aquaecol series of water-based flexo and gravure inks, respectively, which are ideal for retort-grade packaging. Demand for our Aquaduran series of water-based flexo inks for the back sheet of disposable diapers is also on the rise.”
Outlook for the Region
With economic growth in the region continuing, ink manufacturers anticipate future expansion as well.
“We expect to see moderate growth in the Asia-Pacific region,” Nakano said. “Fueled by rapid development and exploding middle-class populations, the region shows signs of strong potential. In terms of global expansion, the Toyo Ink Group will work to expand business domains at strategic bases in China, Southeast Asia and South Asia. In new markets such as inland areas of China, we will flexibly use management resources through our network to start up business quickly.”
“We expect further economic growth in the Asian market that will expand sales and increase our market share” Kataura said.
“Books as well as newspaper and magazine circulations,are increasing due to the population growth and rising literacy rates in the newly developing countries in Asia. As a result, we expect steady demand will continue for newspaper and offset inks. We also believe the packaging ink market will grow since it is our main product and there is steady demand.”
“DIC expects steady and continuous growth, especially in flexible packaging,” Tachibana concluded. “As purchasing power increases in the developing countries, demand for packaged products will grow. “
The Asia-Pacific region consists of a variety of smaller areas. China is the largest economy in the region, and Ink World will provide a more in-depth look at the Chinese ink industry in our September-October 2015 issue. Japan is a huge market, India is growing quickly in importance, as is South Asia, Southeast Asia and the ANZ (Australia-New Zealand) market.
Estimates of the size of the region’s printing ink industry vary. For example, hubergroup board member Ashwani Bhardwaj places the market at approximately $5 billion, with Japan the largest portion at $2 billion. Yuichi Kataura, GM of the International Operations Division of Sakata INX, reported that the estimated size of the printing market in Japan for 2014, not including figures for inkjet ink, was approximately 410,000 tons.
The Chinese ink market is likely more than $1 billion, with India thought to be at $750 million.
“India, Indonesia and Vietnam are among the fastest growing countries in this region,” Bhardwaj added, noting that the company is seeing growth in most segments.
Tadashi Nakano, manager, Global Innovation Division at Toyo Ink Co., Ltd., said that the Asia-Pacific region showed moderate growth, despite a slowing economy.
“The packaging segment continues to grow in the Asia-Pacific region, driven by booming populations, improved lifestyles and rapid industrialization in the developing countries in the region,” said Nakano. “In particular, sales of eco-friendly inks for packaging in the premium market segment expanded in Southeast Asia and India. Sales of gravure inks for publications in Japan remained on a declining trend. In addition, the domestic sales of mainstay gravure inks for packaging failed to grow after unseasonable weather during the summer.
“Although demand in China began to slow, demand continued to grow in Southeast Asia and India,” Nakano added. “Sales of our eco-friendly inks for the premium market segment expanded in these areas. Specifically, the Multistar series of toluene-free and MEK-free gravure lamination inks continues to do exceptionally well in Asian markets.
“As for offset inks, demand slowed down in the China market, but sales in Southeast Asia and India remained strong. In Japan, the sales of our advanced products increased, including products with high UV sensitivity and hard coat products used in touchscreen panels. However, demands for sheetfed printing, offset rotary printing and newspaper inks were weak due to the structural recession resulting from the shrinking printing market associated with digitization and the significant effect of the consumption tax hike.”
Kataura noted that Sakata INX enjoyed growth in India, China as well as Indonesia, with the company’s sales up 4.6% over 2013.
“Mostly due to weak demand for packaging ink, sales quantity did not grow in the latter half of 2014,” Kataura said. “However, sales of newspaper ink and offset ink grew in both India and China, resulting in a sales increase for Sakata INX in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Kataura added that the company is adding onto its Shiga plant in Japan as well as in China.
“Phase 2 construction of the Shiga, Japan plant is now taking place,” Kataura noted. “We also plan to build a new plant in Maoming, China.”
Shogo Tachibana of DIC Corporation’s Corporate Communications Department noted that DIC’s business in South Asia and Southeast Asia is expanding.
“The developing nations of Southeast Asia and South Asia enjoyed strong growth in most product categories,” Tachibana said. “Packaging was an area of growth, while the publication and commercial sector suffered due to a continuous transition of paper media to digital devices.
“India, Indonesia and Vietnam enjoy strong growth in almost all ink categories,” Tachibana added, noting that DIC concentrated resources into fast growing markets such as India and Indonesia.
Nakano said that Toyo Ink Group has been particularly active in India.
“In India, the Toyo Ink Group boosted our gravure inks production capacity and scaled up our inkjet inks operations with further enhancements to our Delhi plant,” Nakano reported. “We are pushing forward with plans in the country to develop a production base for a diversified lineup of group products, thus creating a multi-faceted operation in the country.
“In August 2014, we announced the completion of a second offset ink factory in Gujarat, India,” Nakano added. “The new plant not only supports demand in India, but it is also positioned as a global supply base for high-quality ink products for neighboring regions, such as Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. A new offset factory will also be launched in Sichuan province in fall 2015, to support rising demand in western China.”
Bhardwaj said that environmental issues are becoming very critical in the Asian region.
“Government regulations are getting more stringent and ink companies are gradually upgrading their own manufacturing processes and standards. Awareness among the printers and end users is growing and they are now demanding the ink manufacturers to follow the latest global product safety norms,” Bhardwaj added.
To meet these needs, hubergroup has developed new UV products within its NewV product family, which have been launched worldwide. The NewV range of products meets the highest standards in terms of product safety. NewV products are highly appreciated by the customers.
Hubergroup also introduced the Gecko product family, representing solvent-based packaging printing, in India early 2015. “That was one more step to make our product basket globally available to printers and brand owners,” Bhardwaj added.
“We’ve been seeing growth in water-based inks and eco-friendly printing techniques, driven by regulatory changes and increased awareness in the industry,” Nakano said. “Specifically, we consider water-based flexo inks for flexible packaging and the healthcare markets as areas of future growth. Sales have expanded for our Aqualiona and Aquaecol series of water-based flexo and gravure inks, respectively, which are ideal for retort-grade packaging. Demand for our Aquaduran series of water-based flexo inks for the back sheet of disposable diapers is also on the rise.”
Outlook for the Region
With economic growth in the region continuing, ink manufacturers anticipate future expansion as well.
“We expect to see moderate growth in the Asia-Pacific region,” Nakano said. “Fueled by rapid development and exploding middle-class populations, the region shows signs of strong potential. In terms of global expansion, the Toyo Ink Group will work to expand business domains at strategic bases in China, Southeast Asia and South Asia. In new markets such as inland areas of China, we will flexibly use management resources through our network to start up business quickly.”
“We expect further economic growth in the Asian market that will expand sales and increase our market share” Kataura said.
“Books as well as newspaper and magazine circulations,are increasing due to the population growth and rising literacy rates in the newly developing countries in Asia. As a result, we expect steady demand will continue for newspaper and offset inks. We also believe the packaging ink market will grow since it is our main product and there is steady demand.”
“DIC expects steady and continuous growth, especially in flexible packaging,” Tachibana concluded. “As purchasing power increases in the developing countries, demand for packaged products will grow. “