David Savastano, Editor10.04.23
The Asia-Pacific region is an important economic driver. Its printing industry, particularly on the packaging side, continues to expand, and so does its ink business.
Ink World estimates that ink sales in the region are more than $8 billion annually. Ink industry executives see growth opportunities throughout Asia-Pacific, particularly as the region’s economic recovery continues after the COVID pandemic.
Ashish Pradhan, Siegwerk’s president Asia, reported that the printing and ink market in the Asia Pacific region has rebounded to growth after the COVID setback of the past three years. He added that Siegwerk is seeing the strongest growth on the Indian subcontinent, with Bangladesh and India performing extremely well in terms of both volume and value growth.
“The overall Asia region is growing at a good rate of 6-7% in volume terms,” said Pradhan. “The Indian subcontinent is leading the way and China has also returned to volume growth in 2023. The growth in packaging inks has been stronger than in the commercial printing ink segment. In addition, we see that food safety and sustainability topics are gaining more and more importance and are increasingly driving growth in the region.”
Masamichi Sota, president, Packaging & Graphic Business Group, GM, Printing Material Products Division, DIC Corporation, said that while DIC continues to see considerable variation from country to country, generally speaking, printing ink pricing has faced significant challenges since the second half of 2022.
“Recently, we see a relatively noticeable trend toward market growth in China, Thailand, India, and Indonesia,” Sota added. “Since the second half of 2022, the supply of raw materials has been generally stable.”
Hideyuki Hinataya, GM of the Overseas Ink Sales Division for T&K Toka, observed that although demand for ink increased in 2022 compared to 2021, it has not reached pre-COVID pandemic levels. He added that T&K Toka is seeing the strongest growth in Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.
Katsuya Tanaka, GM of international operations of corporate planning for Sakata INX, said that with the exception of China, sales increased in most regions, particularly in India and Thailand.
“Although the Chinese economy was sluggish overall, including the lockdown in Shanghai due to the re-expansion of the coronavirus, Southeast Asia and South Asia have made progress in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Tanaka reported. “Sales of packaging ink remained steady as economic activity increased.”
To meet the growing needs of their customers, ink manufacturers are adding new facilities in the Asia-Pacific region. Pradhan pointed out that with the growth that Siegwerk has been experiencing in Asia, the company continues to invest in its capacities and facilities.
“We added a new facility in Bangladesh in 2021 and that has really helped us to grow at an exponential rate in the local market,” said Pradhan. “To further enhance customer proximity, we have just added a new color matching center in North India. In addition, we will also continue to invest in our partnership with Rotopack in Pakistan and expand our production in line with demand at all our existing facilities in Asia.”
Tanaka noted that Sakata INX is actively expanding its operations in the Asia-Pacific region, beginning with its new factory in Bangladesh, which was completed by the end of 2021.
“It began full-scale operations last year and is steadily increasing production,” Tanaka observed. “We have expanded our packaging ink production facilities in Indonesia and have also established a sales company in Cambodia.”
“In the first quarter of 2023, we commenced operations at our new plant in Gujarat, India,” said Sota. “Currently, we are in the process of constructing a new plant in Dongguan, China. We plan to start operations there next year.”
COVID affected the whole world, and China was no exception, especially as the Chinese government issued lockdowns to try to control the virus.
“Though China’s exports remain sluggish, we’ve felt a gradual recovery in China’s domestic demand since zero-COVID restrictions were lifted last December,” Sota pointed out.
T&K Toka is well positioned in China, as its joint venture Hangzhou Toka Ink is one of the largest ink manufacturers in the country. Hinataya said that the Chinese economy has yet to fully recover from the COVID pandemic.
“The overall manufacturing industry in China is stagnant, and the printing business is in the same condition,” said Hinataya. “Ink demand is temporarily recovering, but it is not reaching the usual level.”
“Our packaging inks plant in Shanghai shut down for two months in 2022 because city officials implemented a lockdown due to the resurgence of the coronavirus,” Tanaka said.” This had a major negative impact on our business in China. Sales of commercial printing inks experienced a decline in domestic demand due to the slump in the Chinese economy. Even after the pandemic subsided, the economy did not recover and sales volume continued to decline.”
With sales of $171 million in 2022, Yip’s Chemical Holdings Limited is the largest domestic ink manufacturer in China through its subsidiary, Bauhinia Variegata. A spokesperson for Yip’s Chemical sees excellent opportunities ahead in 2023, with packaging printing driving growth.
“We believe that the overall business environment will improve in 2023 and it is expected to bring new momentum,” the spokesperson said. “Our inks business is all set to improve the quality of the business, reduce costs, and develop new types of inks to increase competitiveness. We will also actively seek horizontal integration M&A opportunities to diversify our inks portfolio.
“The demand for packaging printing in China is expected to continue to rise at an average annual growth rate of around 4%, driven by China’s economic development and increased demand for consumer goods,” Yip’s spokesperson pointed out. “China has become the world’s largest consumer market and producer of packaging products, providing enormous opportunities for the development of the packaging printing industry.”
“Overall, the economy is recovering and our business in India is doing well,” Tanaka noted. “Newspaper ink sales, which had fallen to nearly half of what it was before the pandemic, have recovered to about 90% of its previous level. We have also introduced production equipment for commercial printing inks and are expanding sales.”
Pradhan observed that the Indian market has grown due to strong economic and demographic tailwinds, and Siegwerk has done well to capitalize on this.
“The recent ban on toluene in printing inks for food packaging has also contributed to our growth in India,” added Pradhan. “Encouragingly, we see that our market share has increased, so we seem to do quite well across all our key business units. Flexible packaging leads the way, but we are also seeing very good growth in our narrow web and paper and board business units. Sheetfed has also developed well in recent few months after stagnating for a while.”
“The printing and printing ink industry remains on the road to recovery,” Hinataya noted. “We expect the gradual recovery to continue. We expect the packaging and label industries to continue to see solid growth, while the publishing and commercial printing industries will see further digitization.”
“We believe that the Asian market will be the growth driver for the printing ink and printing industry,” said Pradhan. “We expect growth in both volume and value over the next couple of years. Currently, the per capita consumption of packaged goods in Asia is less than a quarter of the consumption in the developed world. The growing middle-class population, the trend of consumerism and the need for convenience will certainly further drive the consumption of packaged goods in Asia. Hence, we believe that the packaging inks market will continue to experience robust growth.
“The commercial printing inks market is seeing consolidation and we do not expect to see much overall growth here,” Pradhan added. “However, we do see that there will be a rising demand for more sustainable and safer packaging, and thus a rising demand for safer, more sustainable and circular inks and coatings, going forward, as consumers become more aware, demanding safety and environment friendliness from the brands they buy.”
“We believe market conditions will gradually improve, primarily in China, Thailand, India, and Indonesia,” Sota noted.
“We expect production and sales of packaging inks to grow in proportion to GDP growth, mainly in regions with large populations and stable economic development such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand,” Tanaka concluded. n
Ink World estimates that ink sales in the region are more than $8 billion annually. Ink industry executives see growth opportunities throughout Asia-Pacific, particularly as the region’s economic recovery continues after the COVID pandemic.
Ashish Pradhan, Siegwerk’s president Asia, reported that the printing and ink market in the Asia Pacific region has rebounded to growth after the COVID setback of the past three years. He added that Siegwerk is seeing the strongest growth on the Indian subcontinent, with Bangladesh and India performing extremely well in terms of both volume and value growth.
“The overall Asia region is growing at a good rate of 6-7% in volume terms,” said Pradhan. “The Indian subcontinent is leading the way and China has also returned to volume growth in 2023. The growth in packaging inks has been stronger than in the commercial printing ink segment. In addition, we see that food safety and sustainability topics are gaining more and more importance and are increasingly driving growth in the region.”
Masamichi Sota, president, Packaging & Graphic Business Group, GM, Printing Material Products Division, DIC Corporation, said that while DIC continues to see considerable variation from country to country, generally speaking, printing ink pricing has faced significant challenges since the second half of 2022.
“Recently, we see a relatively noticeable trend toward market growth in China, Thailand, India, and Indonesia,” Sota added. “Since the second half of 2022, the supply of raw materials has been generally stable.”
Hideyuki Hinataya, GM of the Overseas Ink Sales Division for T&K Toka, observed that although demand for ink increased in 2022 compared to 2021, it has not reached pre-COVID pandemic levels. He added that T&K Toka is seeing the strongest growth in Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.
Katsuya Tanaka, GM of international operations of corporate planning for Sakata INX, said that with the exception of China, sales increased in most regions, particularly in India and Thailand.
“Although the Chinese economy was sluggish overall, including the lockdown in Shanghai due to the re-expansion of the coronavirus, Southeast Asia and South Asia have made progress in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Tanaka reported. “Sales of packaging ink remained steady as economic activity increased.”
To meet the growing needs of their customers, ink manufacturers are adding new facilities in the Asia-Pacific region. Pradhan pointed out that with the growth that Siegwerk has been experiencing in Asia, the company continues to invest in its capacities and facilities.
“We added a new facility in Bangladesh in 2021 and that has really helped us to grow at an exponential rate in the local market,” said Pradhan. “To further enhance customer proximity, we have just added a new color matching center in North India. In addition, we will also continue to invest in our partnership with Rotopack in Pakistan and expand our production in line with demand at all our existing facilities in Asia.”
Tanaka noted that Sakata INX is actively expanding its operations in the Asia-Pacific region, beginning with its new factory in Bangladesh, which was completed by the end of 2021.
“It began full-scale operations last year and is steadily increasing production,” Tanaka observed. “We have expanded our packaging ink production facilities in Indonesia and have also established a sales company in Cambodia.”
“In the first quarter of 2023, we commenced operations at our new plant in Gujarat, India,” said Sota. “Currently, we are in the process of constructing a new plant in Dongguan, China. We plan to start operations there next year.”
China
COVID affected the whole world, and China was no exception, especially as the Chinese government issued lockdowns to try to control the virus.
“Though China’s exports remain sluggish, we’ve felt a gradual recovery in China’s domestic demand since zero-COVID restrictions were lifted last December,” Sota pointed out.
T&K Toka is well positioned in China, as its joint venture Hangzhou Toka Ink is one of the largest ink manufacturers in the country. Hinataya said that the Chinese economy has yet to fully recover from the COVID pandemic.
“The overall manufacturing industry in China is stagnant, and the printing business is in the same condition,” said Hinataya. “Ink demand is temporarily recovering, but it is not reaching the usual level.”
“Our packaging inks plant in Shanghai shut down for two months in 2022 because city officials implemented a lockdown due to the resurgence of the coronavirus,” Tanaka said.” This had a major negative impact on our business in China. Sales of commercial printing inks experienced a decline in domestic demand due to the slump in the Chinese economy. Even after the pandemic subsided, the economy did not recover and sales volume continued to decline.”
With sales of $171 million in 2022, Yip’s Chemical Holdings Limited is the largest domestic ink manufacturer in China through its subsidiary, Bauhinia Variegata. A spokesperson for Yip’s Chemical sees excellent opportunities ahead in 2023, with packaging printing driving growth.
“We believe that the overall business environment will improve in 2023 and it is expected to bring new momentum,” the spokesperson said. “Our inks business is all set to improve the quality of the business, reduce costs, and develop new types of inks to increase competitiveness. We will also actively seek horizontal integration M&A opportunities to diversify our inks portfolio.
“The demand for packaging printing in China is expected to continue to rise at an average annual growth rate of around 4%, driven by China’s economic development and increased demand for consumer goods,” Yip’s spokesperson pointed out. “China has become the world’s largest consumer market and producer of packaging products, providing enormous opportunities for the development of the packaging printing industry.”
India
India is the second-largest economy in the Asia-Pacific region, and ink manufacturers report that printing remains strong in the region.“Overall, the economy is recovering and our business in India is doing well,” Tanaka noted. “Newspaper ink sales, which had fallen to nearly half of what it was before the pandemic, have recovered to about 90% of its previous level. We have also introduced production equipment for commercial printing inks and are expanding sales.”
Pradhan observed that the Indian market has grown due to strong economic and demographic tailwinds, and Siegwerk has done well to capitalize on this.
“The recent ban on toluene in printing inks for food packaging has also contributed to our growth in India,” added Pradhan. “Encouragingly, we see that our market share has increased, so we seem to do quite well across all our key business units. Flexible packaging leads the way, but we are also seeing very good growth in our narrow web and paper and board business units. Sheetfed has also developed well in recent few months after stagnating for a while.”
Expectations for Future Growth
As the region rebounds from the pandemic, ink industry executives anticipate further growth, particularly on the packaging ink side.“The printing and printing ink industry remains on the road to recovery,” Hinataya noted. “We expect the gradual recovery to continue. We expect the packaging and label industries to continue to see solid growth, while the publishing and commercial printing industries will see further digitization.”
“We believe that the Asian market will be the growth driver for the printing ink and printing industry,” said Pradhan. “We expect growth in both volume and value over the next couple of years. Currently, the per capita consumption of packaged goods in Asia is less than a quarter of the consumption in the developed world. The growing middle-class population, the trend of consumerism and the need for convenience will certainly further drive the consumption of packaged goods in Asia. Hence, we believe that the packaging inks market will continue to experience robust growth.
“The commercial printing inks market is seeing consolidation and we do not expect to see much overall growth here,” Pradhan added. “However, we do see that there will be a rising demand for more sustainable and safer packaging, and thus a rising demand for safer, more sustainable and circular inks and coatings, going forward, as consumers become more aware, demanding safety and environment friendliness from the brands they buy.”
“We believe market conditions will gradually improve, primarily in China, Thailand, India, and Indonesia,” Sota noted.
“We expect production and sales of packaging inks to grow in proportion to GDP growth, mainly in regions with large populations and stable economic development such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand,” Tanaka concluded. n