The pigments market in Europe, like other major raw material sectors for printing inks, is facing the key issue of what will happen to demand once the lockdown across the region to combat the coronavirus outbreak (COVID) has been lifted.

In a world economic outlook bulletin in April 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was predicting that after a double-digit plunge in GDP in the second quarter, the 19-country euro area would record an average 7.5% drop in output this year with similar decreases in the remainder of the region.

In 2021, this would be transformed into average GDP growth in the euro-zone of 4.7%, according to the IMF. By next year, the global pigments market could start to return to pre-COVID annual growth levels of approximately 5%-6%, with paints and coatings accounting for much of the increase.

Although parts of Europe’s market for printing inks and their raw materials like pigments will continue to be undermined by intense competition from online media, inks have the potential for expansion into new markets. This will be mainly the result of new formulations enabling a greater variety of inks to be printed on a wider range of substrates such as textiles and ceramics, with opportunities for versatile color designs.

For ink producers and their pigment suppliers, these changes should help to boost margins, which should at least partly offset falls in volume sales of inks and pigments from conventional printing processes. But they will also necessitate the restructuring of supply chains.

Printing ink producers will be worrying in particular about the insecurities of supplies from China of pigments and their raw materials and intermediates. The country accounts for a large proportion of imports of bulk printing ink pigments and their raw materials into Europe.

Moving Back to Europe

The extent of the European ink sector’s reliance on Chinese pigments and raw materials has prompted companies over the last few years to consider building more capacity for their production in Europe.

These have tended to be focused on reinforcing the premium end of the pigment sector in Europe, particularly in areas where there is a need for close contacts with end-users.

Now as the industry starts to plan for the difficulties of the post-COVID period, it is assessing even more strongly the benefits of having more European-based sources of pigment supply.

“There’s been a big increase in the number of European companies that are now reviewing their supply chains of products made in China because of the coronavirus disruptions,” said an executive at one London-based consultancy on the Chinese economy. “COVID is the latest in a series of supply chain disruptions in segments like pigments and other raw materials, which has made China a less secure manufacturing base for European companies.”

One option is to use Europe more as a base for adding value to basic Chinese products, such as the provision of pigment preparations with dispersion capabilities and giving specific shapes and sizes to pigment particles to improve their performance.

Europe is also able to use its strong position in R&D to develop new pigment technologies, especially for special effects and to meet the current desire for stronger and more brilliant colors.

Following the COVID-triggered recession, there is likely to be more consolidation in Europe’s pigments sector, which may result in plant or capacity closure but could also stimulate investment in new technologies.

DIC of Japan, which owns Sun Chemical, Europe’s market leader in printing inks and a major pigment supplier in the region, agreed last year to acquire BASF’s pigments business for €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion).

“BASF’s pigments portfolio is an important strategic addition in meeting our goals more expeditiously,” said Kaoru Ino, DIC’s president and chief executive. “It will allow us to expand our position as one of the leading pigment suppliers globally and offer our customers even more versatile solutions.”

Clariant confirmed late last year that it would continue to press ahead with the proposed divestment of its pigments business. But these plans may change after Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) increased its stake in the company from 24.9% to 31.5% in March, bringing it close to the point where it will legally have to make a takeover bid for the Swiss multinational.

Merck KGaA, a leader in special effects pigments, was rumored in November last year to be considering selling its pigments business because of dissatisfaction among senior executives with its financial performance. The operation could be worth €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), according to analysts.

The German company is among the most active innovators in pigments in Europe. But innovation is not just confined to large players in the sector, especially with printing ink pigments. A lot of advances have been made by start-ups, SME and academia. These are often in high tech areas, particularly in fields that overlap with activities in printed and flexible electronics.

The current trend for new technologies to cut costs through greater productivity is likely to be strengthened. Heubach has introduced what it calls “the next generation” of water-based dispersions for higher screen anilox printing. These raise pigment loadings but with lower volumes. The dispersions can be printed on a range of substrates, such as corrugated board, paper, plastic and latex.

Sustainability

Sustainability is expected to continue to be a major driver behind innovations in the post-pandemic period in Europe. This will result in colors printed with water-based materials, low solvent content, low or no emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and with fewer or no chemicals classified by regulators as being substances of high concern.

Health, safety and environmental standards for pigments and other chemicals could become even more strict.

The European Commission, the European Union’s Brussels-based executive, indicated its resolve to apply tougher standards even to widely used materials when it finally decided in February 2020, in the face of strong opposition from the pigments, inks and coatings and other sectors, to categorize titanium dioxide as being carcinogenic.

It confirmed a recommendation by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) that under the EU’s product labeling regulation (CLP), TiO2 should be classified as carcinogenic category 2 or having a suspected carcinogenic effect through inhalation.

The new rule which will have to be fully implemented by mid-2021 will mean that liquids containing at least 1% TiO2 will have to carry the label warning “Hazardous respirable droplets may be formed when sprayed. Do not breathe spray or mist.”

The warning will cause difficulties with waste disposal because waste containing more than 1% TiO2 will be classified as “hazardous waste” and will not be able to be recycled.

Much of the impetus behind innovations in pigments and pigment preparations for printing inks come from new applications, particularly on substrates other than conventional paper and board plastics and metals. In particular, this is the case with substrates appropriate for inkjet and toner processes, such as textiles, ceramics, glass and certain metals.

In the textiles sector, for example, inkjet has become a rival to screenprinting, traditionally the dominant printing process in textiles, because of the fast growth in demand for personalization, small batch sizes, quick delivery of orders and higher environmental standards.

Pigments are competing in Europe with dye sublimation in the rapidly growing textile digital printing market. Pigments have the advantage of high color strength and greater durability through high levels of light resistance. Unlike dye sublimation, pigments do not require pre-treatment.

Pigments also have the versatility to meet the current demand for a wide variety of colors in printed textiles. Trends in the fashion market now have a big influence on the choice of colors by consumers in the lower-cost digitally printed sector.

European companies have been making radical changes to color printing systems and to their pigment formulations to improve color quality. The RGB process, developed by Merck with red, green and blue instead of CMYK as its primary colors, are being extended to new markets. Being printed on a black rather than a traditional white base, it provides a higher level of color intensity.

Because existing pigments lacked the properties needed for the process, the company developed its own pigments, according to Peter Clauter, Merck’s marketing manager for pigments. The brilliance and depth of its colors provide high-value packaging which has a “real emotional effect,” he said.

After being targeted at first on the premium packaging sector, the RGB process could be introduced soon to the paper laminates market for furniture and flooring, he added.

ALTANA Group could transform the way metallic effects are printed through the commercialization of Ecoleaf, a technology acquired by its subsidiary ACTEGA from Landa Corp. of Israel. It was scheduled to be introduced at the postponed drupa exhibition this year.

Ecoleaf is applied without the aid of cold or hot foil stamping technologies through the combination of a colorized trigger image with a thin layer of metal pigments transferred from a donor roll. Only those pigment flecks in contact with the trigger image are transferred, with the remainder being transported to a reservoir for future reuse.

ACTEGA says the technology avoids the waste of foil stamping. Depending on the choice of the printing process for the trigger image – whether flexo, rotary screen, flatbed screen or inkjet – Ecoleaf can create novel metallic effects. These include tactile effects, high-resolution embellishments or solid metallic printing.

Ecoleaf, RGB and other new technologies highlight the extent to which printing ink pigments in Europe are offering extended opportunities for customization to meet the specific needs of customers. They also emphasize the importance of short supply chains. These will be needed to serve what is likely to be fluctuating and uncertain changes in demand after the dramatic impact of COVID but also to respond to an expected acceleration rather than the slowdown of technological trends evident before the pandemic hit Europe. 

European Editor Sean Milmo is an Essex, UK-based writer specializing in coverage of the chemical industry.