The raw material market continues to bring new obstacles for the ink industry. After 2017’s titanium dioxide troubles and 2018’s photoinitiator shortages, 2019 brought new concerns, many of which were centered around the tighter regulatory environment in China.

The tragic explosion at the Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical, a pesticide plant in China, on March 21, 2019, was a huge reminder of what needs to be changed. The blast left more than 78 people dead and understandably resulted in the entire industrial park being shut down. That included numerous plants that supply the ink industry with pigments and photoinitiators.

China has also been active in closing down industries it deems as heavily polluting. This, too, has been impacting the supply of key ingredients to the ink industry.

As a result of the stricter restrictions, ink companies have had to scramble to source certain materials. As supply becomes tighter, demand rises and prices increase.

Adding to that, the present tariff battle between the US and China continues to fluctuate, lending even more unpredictability to the market. All in all, it is a difficult time to be a purchasing agent for an ink company.

The Raw Material Market in 2019

The beginning of 2019 seemed like a time of improvement in the raw material market. However, that quickly changed.

“The chemical industry raw material market has seen improvements in 2019 in a few categories,” said Jeffrey Shaw, chief supply chain officer, Sun Chemical. “However, after a brief period of supply improvement early, there was a significant level of supply disruptions that occurred late in the first quarter. As a result of a few explosions and physical disruptions, coupled with continued environmental legislation driven closures, several markets have become severely constrained, especially in the pigment and pigment intermediate markets.”

Shaw noted that trade disputes and increased tariff initiatives on Chinese products have also applied significant pressure to many raw materials and intermediates. “Even so, we remain committed to sourcing the best quality and priced materials for our customers,” Shaw added. “This requires keen attention to the various markets to capitalize on opportunities and mitigate risks.”

Rick Westrom, SVP of strategic sourcing and R&D at INX International Ink Co., said that material concerns can be managed, and when it becomes too difficult to get the materials, R&D takes over.

“Because of our vast network, we are able to manage the supply of raw materials,” said Westrom. “When there has been an issue, technical has been able to reformulate as needed.”

Ken Klug, purchasing director for Wikoff Color, said that the raw materials outlook proved to be a challenge for Wikoff Color and the entire market over the last year.

“It is no secret that ink suppliers today are faced with the task of navigating a volatile UV photoinitiator (PI) market, but Wikoff Color continues to mitigate these challenges by working with trusted suppliers, researching alternatives and utilizing new technology,” Klug observed.

Biggest Concerns for Ink Companies

There are plenty of products that are keeping ink industry purchasing executives busy, but certain items are particularly concerning. Ink industry leaders noted that Pigment Yellow 74 is of special concern.

“A shortage of the key intermediate PNOA is affecting the supply of Pigment Yellow 74,” said Westrom. “There were two major suppliers that accounted for 80% of the global capacity. Both were permanently closed as they were located in the chemical park which had the devastating explosion earlier this year on March 21. As a result, the market price has increased by more than 400% due to the shortage.”

“Our suppliers mentioned a shortage of Yellow 74 and a tight supply of a few photoinitiators. The cost of several raw materials produced in China increased due to additional tariffs on imports,” Toyo Ink America’s purchasing team reported.

Shaw pointed to pigments and intermediates prices as continuing to be problematic due to the impacts around physical disruptions, environmental legislation and increased tariffs.

“Many of these products are sourced from China and supply has been compromised, resulting in increased prices,” Shaw added. “The current challenges facing the Chinese market are expected to continue for a few years as environmental assessments and legislation will continue to apply pressure to manufacturers costs in order to comply with enhanced operating standards. Our supply chain team has developed contingencies that include sourcing more volume from a broader global supply base and diversifying portfolios in order to minimize the impacts to our customers.”

Klug noted that photoinitiators used in all UV inks and coatings have been extremely volatile.

“The pressure on the PI market started with the implementation of the Chinese Blue Sky Initiative two years ago,” Klug noted. “Many manufacturing plants had to either close, consolidate or implement both power/wastewater treatment procedures. Therefore, suppliers of raw materials and/or intermediates of the PI manufacturers were minimized. This forced all of the manufacturers to rationalize what products to make due to lack of components. Since the bulk of the PI’s is manufactured in China, we have experienced not only supply chain interruptions but the additional 25% cost of tariffs that were implemented in the last year.”

Photoinitiators

Last year’s biggest challenge was photoinitiators and their precursors, which were having a major effect on the cost and availability of UV inks. The good news is that the photoinitiator and precursor cost and availability issues have abated somewhat, although the price is still high.

“Overall, the availability issues have subsided,” said Westrom. “However, the cost of the photoinitiators has stabilized at a higher price level and we do not see it reducing to the price levels from a few years ago.”

“Availability of feedstocks to produce photoinitiators has improved,” Toyo Ink America’s purchasing team said. “TPO availability is no longer an issue. Some photoinitiators such as ITX, EMK and TPO-L are in tight supply. Prices remain high. Tariffs imposed on imports from China adds to the cost of photoinitiators.”

“The trends that existed in 2018 and early 2019 have improved, however, not to the level they were prior to the crisis,” said Shaw. “Supply has improved, but prices have not rebounded. The economic conditions remain elevated as the photoinitiator supply chain is still impacted by some of the previous dynamics that caused severe supply constraints. Government-led environmental assessments continue to drive many challenges and are still subject to abrupt and unpredictable shutdowns. As a result, we continue to be proactive in broadening our supply base to avoid any potential supply availability issues.”

“While a small number of products have been released from allocation, the costs have not seen any relief,” Klug reported. “We continue to experience supply challenges and have expanded our sources to meet the growing needs of our customers.”

Pigments

Aside from the aforementioned Pigment Yellow 74, pigments are still a concern. Klug noted that the explosion at the Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical Company in March had an impact on the availability of key pigments. Westrom said that supply for certain grades is tight, causing increased prices. Toyo Ink America reported there are no supply issues for most pigments, although Yellow 74 remains in tight supply.

“There are several pigments globally that continue to be problematic due to supply constraints around key intermediates,” said Shaw. “Also, environmental assessment legislation will continue to be a challenge. Nonetheless, we remain strongly committed to corporate social responsibility. We continue to conduct business with suppliers that are compliant with environmental regulations and committed to the ideals of corporate social responsibility. With this said, risk management is a primary objective for our integrated supply chain organization. These challenges will continue to be a threat to cost and supply for the next several years until governmental agencies achieve their goals.”

Aside from pigments and photoinitiators, ink manufacturers are watching a wide variety of key ingredients.

“There have been some significant price volatility around some solvents, especially in Europe due to supply challenges and a limited supply base for a few key chemistries,” Shaw said. “Other than that, we continue to focus on all our raw materials to make sure we have adequate supply contingencies in place to avoid any potential supply disruptions. Focusing on our ‘Plan B’ in all our categories is a priority for us.”

“EMK has been a concern, but it looks like manufacturers are getting back up online now,” Westrom said.

Consolidation Among Suppliers

In recent years, there was significant consolidation among raw material suppliers, but this year saw less action.

“We have not really seen any significant impact from supplier consolidation recently,” Shaw said. “There has been some activity in markets that include TiO2, energy cure and specialty chemicals, but overall there really has not been a big impact on us. We continue to work with suppliers and communicate our supply plans to help avoid any issues. For us, this has been an effective strategy.”

“There has not been an issue but it is very concerning when we see our supply base consolidate,” Westrom said.

“Toyo Ink America has not faced any major issues,” the company reported. “However, consolidation among raw material suppliers can result in the requalification of products if the manufacturing location is changed. There is also a possibility of supply issues due to product rationalization.”

“The supplier consolidation helped business to survive but created a productivity issue since authorities restricted the hours of operation and output capacity to reduce the water pollution and power grid demand,” Klug said.

Coping with Raw Material Issues

How ink companies handle these raw material issues is critical. For example, the Toyo Ink America purchasing and technology teams review product demand and make contingency plans to mitigate supply issues.

“We are qualifying multiple sources as soon as possible to improve our supply availability position,” Westrom reported.

“Our organization is very well positioned to meet the challenges of today’s raw material markets due to our global reach and our backward integration of key raw materials,” Shaw said. “However, our greatest strength is the efficiency of our global procurement, supply chain and technology teams, which are well aligned with our commercial, product management and manufacturing teams to identify and secure sourcing opportunities strategically aligned to our business and customer requirements.

Communication and alignment remain pivotal actions for us. We have a very proactive global approach to optimize supply chain value and protect our commercial strategies by developing contingencies across all product lines. Our customers understand the global raw material markets through our functional collaboration and communication; however, passing along increased cost is always a challenging endeavor.”

“Wikoff continues to locate qualified suppliers of PIs and selected pigments,” said Klug. “We are sourcing PIs from locations outside of China providing they meet our quality requirements.”

Thoughts on Future Trends

With tighter environmental regulations and tariff concerns, it is virtually impossible to guess what might come next. Major news on the pigment front, including the announcement that DIC Corporation will acquire BASF Color + Effects, could impact the industry.

Klug noted that Wikoff anticipates that both costs and supply for PIs will remain volatile for the rest of 2019 and that tariffs on imports from China will continue to escalate costs throughout the supply chain.

“The Chinese government crackdown on the chemical industry will impact supply more than the US-China trade war,” Westrom observed. “Supply will be impacted as China continues its campaigns of inspections targeting illegal chemical producers to clean up and relocate chemical parks throughout the entire country.”

Toyo Ink America’s purchasing team is expecting raw material cost to remain the same or to be slightly reduced in the next few months as the supply of raw materials gets better.

“However, several chemical plants in China continue to operate at reduced capacity due to the Blue Sky initiative,” Toyo Ink added. “The government of China closed many chemical plants in Xiangshui Chemical Industry Park in Jiangsu province after the explosion on March 21, 2019. There have been announcements from major suppliers they will sell their pigment divisions by end of 2020.”

“There continues to be mounting pressures on our raw materials, supply base and cost structures – and we expect those pressures will continue into 2020,” Shaw said.

“Dealing with several geopolitical issues, trade wars, oil price volatility, tariffs, etc. will likely remain a constant going forward. Primary feedstocks could become extremely volatile dependent on what transpires from one ongoing event to another. Suppliers also continue to pursue margin enhancing strategies versus pure volume plays to improve business performance. Even with all the uncertainty that exists today, we remain committed to providing the best materials to our customer base. Focusing on our mitigation strategies and making sure we have our ‘Plan B’ in place will continue to help us be proactive against these headwinds.”