Application Market Analysis of Ink in Packaging and Printing Industry

To a large extent, packaging printing inks are not affected by the recession, because consumers always buy something. This is always good news for packaging printing ink manufacturers.

On the surface, a survey by the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM) of the first half of 2003 on ink manufacturers showed that despite continuing problems in the U.S. economy, the situation in the area of ​​packaging printing inks is always relatively good. According to the survey, the sales of packaging printing inks maintained a very stable trend. The total sales volume of inks decreased by 0.8% year-on-year, and sales (US dollars) decreased by 1.6 percentage points.

However, the packaging market is composed of many parts. If we further observe the above findings, we will find dramatic ups and downs. For example, while flexible packaging is growing rapidly, production in the corrugated packaging market is shifting overseas. Ink manufacturers also experience the same ups and downs. Solvent-based flexo inks have enjoyed a strong sales volume in the flexible packaging market, with sales up 4% from 2002 levels and sales volume up 3.7% year-on-year. At the same time, the use of water-based flexo inks for corrugated box machines has been affected by the unemployment economy in the United States. Sales volume of water-based flexo inks decreased by 5.7% year-on-year, and sales decreased by 7%.

The packaging industry is rapidly changing, with flexible packaging making eye-catching gains for consumer product manufacturers looking for ways to attract customers. Joe Kelly, vice president and technical director of INX International's Liquid Division's Paper Products Division, points out that "the trend toward the development of packaging and flexible film is continuing. The specific manifestations are: packaging bags to replace packaging boxes, vertical bags to replace cans and bottles, and film labels to replace Paper labeling.” For ink manufacturers, meeting these unique product requirements and developing new technologies will be the key to success in the market.

Flexible packaging

The flexible packaging market has been very successful in recent years. Just go to the grocery store and you'll find that countless companies use vertical bags, vacuum packaging, and shrink labels, all of which add weight to the market. As a result, sales of flexible packaging have almost doubled in the past 13 years, according to the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA), which was slightly more than US$12 billion in 1990 and is now nearly US$21 billion.

This is indeed an area of ​​growth for printers and ink producers. Innovative inks, primarily flexo-solvent inks, are ideal for use in thin film substrates. It seems that Americans will continue to choose these types of packaging because the products contained in the bags will be more attractive in appearance than cans — such as tuna. In addition, the re-sealability of such packages is another advantage.

Bob Zaborowski, FPA Business Economics Research Director, said, “Packing processors are struggling to meet the needs of multiple applications, such as printing eight or more colors on a single substrate. Like ink technology, packaging structures continue to occur In the revolution, ink manufacturers have become an important partner for processors.” Specifically, new technologies such as shrink wrap, vacuum packaging, and vertical bags have driven the growth of the flexible packaging market.

Mike Impastato, vice president of market development for Flint Ink Packaging, noted that “vertical packaging still shows strong growth momentum, while shrink wrap is at the highest growth rate in the market. There is currently no significant growth in vacuum packaging. , but we have already seen a lot of attention and hope that this kind of concern will one day be transformed into a strong growth momentum."

Bob Mullen, vice president of packaging sales at Sun Chemicals, also believes that vertical bags, vacuum packaging and shrink wrap will continue to remain strong in the packaging market. Processors and packaging designers continue to develop new ways of using these types of packaging, such as printing bright patterns to promote sales while emphasizing convenience and re-sealability.

Kent Shah, chief technology officer at Color Converting Industries, talks about the types of flexible packaging products that are currently affecting the consumer market and other design concepts that are still under development. He said, “The international market has already divided several packaging trends, such as vacuum packaging, shrinking bottle labels, tubular packaging, standing bags, active packaging, security identification facilities and biological monitoring systems. Among them, vacuum packaging, shrink sleeve Bottle labels and stand-up pouches have gained a high economic status and are expected to grow rapidly in every area of ​​packaging. Tubular packaging (composite hose) is used for dry foods (eg milk powder, coffee powder) and wet foods ( The packaging of yogurt, concentrated lemon juice, and single servings of small motor oils, etc. The ease of use and popularization among young people will promote growth. The estimated sales volume of such packaging will be 180 million. It has control of humidity, odor, The gas and the packaging form as an oxygen scavenger are called active packaging. Many of this type of packaging have achieved commercial success, while others are still in the R&D phase."

Folding cartons

Some of the gains made by flexible packaging have impacted the folding carton market. Flexo printing inks have made some gains in folding cartons, and the use of color printing on cartons is also constantly improving and growing.

Kelly believes that “the growth of flexible packaging is affecting the traditional cardboard folding carton market. Printers are gradually shifting from offset carton printing to flexo carton printing, but only using their remaining printing capabilities, did not add new equipment. I hope that Will add new equipment for flexo printing."

Ed Dedman, SICPA North American market development manager, pointed out that “flexo-printing carton production is gaining market share, but it is only taking away some of the share from more traditional offset and gravure production processes, rather than occupying a new market segment.”

Impastato added that “folding cartons are maintained by flat or slightly elevated quantities, and flexible packaging remains a major threat to folding cartons.”

(to be continued)