David Savastano, Editor09.23.16
Stability is a wonderful word for ink industry purchasing executives, and one they haven’t had the opportunity to use very often for nearly a decade. During this period, the prices of key ink ingredients have dramatically shot up, while availability has sometimes been scarce.
Even when pricing of goods became stabilized and the cost of crude oil declined substantially, ink executives found themselves battling volatile currency rates, as the euro declined more than 20% against the dollar last year.
The good news is that, right now at least, purchasing executives report that for the vast majority of ingredients, prices are stable and availability is fine. There are trouble spots, such as TiO2 and some pigment intermediates, but this is normal. As Robert Doerffel, corporate communications Europe for hubergroup, succinctly put it, “Generally speaking, we like how boring it is right now.”
That said, much can change in an instant – the US presidential electio
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