07.14.22
2-1, Kyobashi 2-chome
Chuo-Ku, Tokyo 104-8377 Japan
Phone: +81-3-3272-5731
https://schd.toyoinkgroup.com/en/
info@toyoinkgroup.com
Sales: $1.22 billion (¥140.3 billion) in printing and information, and packaging materials. Consolidated results: $2.5 billion (¥288 billion).
Major Products: Offset inks, UV/EB-curable inks, highly reactive UV inks, screen inks, inkjet inks, gravure inks, flexo inks, adhesives, laminating adhesives, hot-melt adhesives, electronics adhesives and materials, industrial adhesive tapes & films, marking films, can coatings, hard coatings, functional coating agents, water-based resins, medical adhesive products, natural extracts, organic pigments, pigment dispersions, functional dispersions, plastic colorants, color filter materials for flat panel displays.
Key Personnel: Katsumi Kitagawa, chairman; Satoru Takashima, president and group CEO; Hiroya Aoyama, senior managing director and CFO; Masato Yanagi, executive operating officer and president of Toyo Ink Co., Ltd.; Hideki Okaichi, executive operating officer and president of Toyocolor Co., Ltd.; Toshinori Machida, executive operating officer and president of Toyochem Co., Ltd.
Number of Employees: 7,887 (consolidated).
Comments: Despite all of the challenges that 2021 brought, Toyo Ink had an exceptionally good year, with revenue and profit increasing over 2020. Net sales increased 11.8% year on year to ¥287,989 million and operating profit rose 0.7% year on year to ¥13,005 million.
Hideki Ohba, International Business Department Marketing Division for Toyo Ink Co., Ltd., observed that the outlook for the global economy remained uncertain during 2021 due to variants of the COVID-19 coronavirus, despite the trend of the gradual easing of the harsh conditions caused by the pandemic.
“Constraints on the supply of raw materials and continuing high prices have seriously affected corporate activities,” Ohba noted. “The situation remained extremely challenging, given the occurrence of problems in raw materials procurement and production activities, in addition to sluggish sales growth due to worldwide stagnation in consumption activities.
“Despite this business environment, we operated our business activities in line with the following three management policies: Increase business profitability, create and expand priority development domains, and enhance the value of management resources for sustainable growth,” he continued.
In Japan, demand for liquid packaging inks for paper bags for souvenirs and apparel was sluggish due to people voluntarily refraining from leaving home. However, sales of liquid inks for home-use foods such as frozen foods and noodles were firm. In overseas markets, demand for food packaging materials was strong in Southeast Asia and remained steady also in China, India, and the Middle East.
“Meanwhile, we continued to revise selling prices due to ongoing worldwide difficulties in procuring raw materials and rising prices, but profits were significantly affected,” Ohba added.
In particular, Ohba reported that many of Toyo Ink’s customers in the food packaging sector continued their business with stable demand despite the pandemic.
“In some cases, packaging demand slightly decreased during lockdowns, especially in places where packaged food plays an important role in the canteens of schools and corporations,” Ohba reported.
In 2022, Toyo Ink Group companies overseas announced production capacity expansions.
Toyo Ink Europe Specialty Chemicals announced in April that it has started operations of an all-new €13 million production facility for inkjet inks at its manufacturing complex in Oissel in northern France. With a focus on operational efficiency, the modern, 1,400-square-meter factory has been fitted with advanced automation equipment and ink manufacturing systems for increased process and quality control.
“The new fully automated site is expected to reinforce our leading position in the global digital sector, in particular in the label, interior décor and corrugated markets,” said Ohba.
In January, Toyo Ink India announced the installation of a new gravure ink factory at its Gujarat site along the western coast of India. With a production capacity of more than 5,000 metric tons per annum, the new factory is expected to boost the company’s competitive advantage in India’s rapidly growing flexible packaging market.
“In addition, the site is toluene-free and uses dedicated controls to ensure regulatory compliance and increased safety,” Ohba said. “Now, with a combined capacity of 20,000 tons per annum, Toyo Ink India will work to expand its share and product offerings in the strategic flexible packaging market where it is focusing our efforts to grow.”
Toyo Ink was also active in R&D, launching the new INGEDE-certified, GMP-manufactured LP-9000 TOYO Life Premium Food LO/LM series of sheetfed inks for food packaging.
“In addition to being deinkable, LP-9000 ink systems are engineered and manufactured in accordance with EuPIA guidelines and the GMP standards,” Ohba said. “They are compliant with the Swiss Ordinance and ISEGA according to Regulation (EU) 1935/2004, and meet global requirements for non-food contact surface inks for food packaging.
In response to the growing demand in the market for new materials aiming to support the transition to a circular economy in the printing and packaging industry, the Toyo Ink Group has been developing inks, coatings, lamination adhesives and heat-sealing agents with the topics of carbon footprint reduction, recyclability, biodegradation, and more in mind.
Raw materials are expected to continue to be a concern going forward.
“We believe the operating environment will remain difficult in the year ahead, including supply chain problems, transportation/distribution-related difficulties, rising materials prices, and other challenges,” Ohba said. “Also, the war in Ukraine has led to additional complications in terms of logistics. Therefore until the conflict is resolved, it is likely to continue to have an impact on our business.
“In response to the difficulty in procuring raw materials, the increase of prices and surging energy and other costs, we collaborated with competitors and implemented the structural reform of our business to reduce costs,” said Ohba. “In the overseas markets, sales in the US and Europe remained strong as the impact of COVID-19 decreased and progress was made in the revision of selling prices.”
Chuo-Ku, Tokyo 104-8377 Japan
Phone: +81-3-3272-5731
https://schd.toyoinkgroup.com/en/
info@toyoinkgroup.com
Sales: $1.22 billion (¥140.3 billion) in printing and information, and packaging materials. Consolidated results: $2.5 billion (¥288 billion).
Major Products: Offset inks, UV/EB-curable inks, highly reactive UV inks, screen inks, inkjet inks, gravure inks, flexo inks, adhesives, laminating adhesives, hot-melt adhesives, electronics adhesives and materials, industrial adhesive tapes & films, marking films, can coatings, hard coatings, functional coating agents, water-based resins, medical adhesive products, natural extracts, organic pigments, pigment dispersions, functional dispersions, plastic colorants, color filter materials for flat panel displays.
Key Personnel: Katsumi Kitagawa, chairman; Satoru Takashima, president and group CEO; Hiroya Aoyama, senior managing director and CFO; Masato Yanagi, executive operating officer and president of Toyo Ink Co., Ltd.; Hideki Okaichi, executive operating officer and president of Toyocolor Co., Ltd.; Toshinori Machida, executive operating officer and president of Toyochem Co., Ltd.
Number of Employees: 7,887 (consolidated).
Comments: Despite all of the challenges that 2021 brought, Toyo Ink had an exceptionally good year, with revenue and profit increasing over 2020. Net sales increased 11.8% year on year to ¥287,989 million and operating profit rose 0.7% year on year to ¥13,005 million.
Hideki Ohba, International Business Department Marketing Division for Toyo Ink Co., Ltd., observed that the outlook for the global economy remained uncertain during 2021 due to variants of the COVID-19 coronavirus, despite the trend of the gradual easing of the harsh conditions caused by the pandemic.
“Constraints on the supply of raw materials and continuing high prices have seriously affected corporate activities,” Ohba noted. “The situation remained extremely challenging, given the occurrence of problems in raw materials procurement and production activities, in addition to sluggish sales growth due to worldwide stagnation in consumption activities.
“Despite this business environment, we operated our business activities in line with the following three management policies: Increase business profitability, create and expand priority development domains, and enhance the value of management resources for sustainable growth,” he continued.
In Japan, demand for liquid packaging inks for paper bags for souvenirs and apparel was sluggish due to people voluntarily refraining from leaving home. However, sales of liquid inks for home-use foods such as frozen foods and noodles were firm. In overseas markets, demand for food packaging materials was strong in Southeast Asia and remained steady also in China, India, and the Middle East.
“Meanwhile, we continued to revise selling prices due to ongoing worldwide difficulties in procuring raw materials and rising prices, but profits were significantly affected,” Ohba added.
In particular, Ohba reported that many of Toyo Ink’s customers in the food packaging sector continued their business with stable demand despite the pandemic.
“In some cases, packaging demand slightly decreased during lockdowns, especially in places where packaged food plays an important role in the canteens of schools and corporations,” Ohba reported.
In 2022, Toyo Ink Group companies overseas announced production capacity expansions.
Toyo Ink Europe Specialty Chemicals announced in April that it has started operations of an all-new €13 million production facility for inkjet inks at its manufacturing complex in Oissel in northern France. With a focus on operational efficiency, the modern, 1,400-square-meter factory has been fitted with advanced automation equipment and ink manufacturing systems for increased process and quality control.
“The new fully automated site is expected to reinforce our leading position in the global digital sector, in particular in the label, interior décor and corrugated markets,” said Ohba.
In January, Toyo Ink India announced the installation of a new gravure ink factory at its Gujarat site along the western coast of India. With a production capacity of more than 5,000 metric tons per annum, the new factory is expected to boost the company’s competitive advantage in India’s rapidly growing flexible packaging market.
“In addition, the site is toluene-free and uses dedicated controls to ensure regulatory compliance and increased safety,” Ohba said. “Now, with a combined capacity of 20,000 tons per annum, Toyo Ink India will work to expand its share and product offerings in the strategic flexible packaging market where it is focusing our efforts to grow.”
Toyo Ink was also active in R&D, launching the new INGEDE-certified, GMP-manufactured LP-9000 TOYO Life Premium Food LO/LM series of sheetfed inks for food packaging.
“In addition to being deinkable, LP-9000 ink systems are engineered and manufactured in accordance with EuPIA guidelines and the GMP standards,” Ohba said. “They are compliant with the Swiss Ordinance and ISEGA according to Regulation (EU) 1935/2004, and meet global requirements for non-food contact surface inks for food packaging.
In response to the growing demand in the market for new materials aiming to support the transition to a circular economy in the printing and packaging industry, the Toyo Ink Group has been developing inks, coatings, lamination adhesives and heat-sealing agents with the topics of carbon footprint reduction, recyclability, biodegradation, and more in mind.
Raw materials are expected to continue to be a concern going forward.
“We believe the operating environment will remain difficult in the year ahead, including supply chain problems, transportation/distribution-related difficulties, rising materials prices, and other challenges,” Ohba said. “Also, the war in Ukraine has led to additional complications in terms of logistics. Therefore until the conflict is resolved, it is likely to continue to have an impact on our business.
“In response to the difficulty in procuring raw materials, the increase of prices and surging energy and other costs, we collaborated with competitors and implemented the structural reform of our business to reduce costs,” said Ohba. “In the overseas markets, sales in the US and Europe remained strong as the impact of COVID-19 decreased and progress was made in the revision of selling prices.”