Asia Pacific Ink Market Development

Masao Tsang, president of the packaging and printing business group of Di Aisheng Company and general manager of the printing materials product department, said that although Di Aisheng's business in various countries varies greatly, in general, since the second half of 2022, printing ink pricing has faced significant challenges. "Recently, we have seen relatively obvious market growth trends in China, Thailand, India and Indonesia, and the supply of raw materials has generally been stable since the second half of 2022."https://www.risedongsheng.com/

Higata Gu, general manager of T & K Toka's overseas ink sales department, observed that although ink demand in 2022 has increased compared to 2021, it has not yet reached the level before the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, T & K Toka has the strongest growth in Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.

Katsuya Tanaka, general manager of international operations for corporate planning at Sakata INX, said sales had increased in most regions except China, particularly India and Thailand. "Despite the overall downturn in China, South East Asia and South Asia have made progress in recovering from the epidemic. Packaging ink sales have remained stable as economic activity has increased."

Ink manufacturers are adding new facilities in the Asia-Pacific region to meet the growing demand of their customers. Pradhan noted that the company will continue to invest in its capacity and facilities as Seinwerk grows in Asia. Said: "We added a new factory in Bangladesh in 2021, which has really helped us achieve exponential growth in the local market. To get closer to our customers, we have added a new color scheme center in northern India. In addition, we will continue to invest in our partnership with Rotopack Pakistan and expand our production according to the needs of all existing factories in Asia."

Tanaka pointed out that Bantian Ink is actively expanding its business in the Asia-Pacific region, starting with a new factory in Bangladesh, which will be completed by the end of 2021. "It started full operations last year and production is increasing steadily. We have expanded our packaging ink production facility in Indonesia and set up a sales company in Cambodia."

"In Quarter 1, 2023, our new plant in Gujarat, India, will start operations. Currently, we are building a new plant in Dongguan, China, and we plan to start operations next year," said Mr. Tsang.

China

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world, and China is no exception, especially as the Chinese government issues lockdowns to try to contain the virus. "Although Chinese exports remain sluggish, since the lifting of epidemic prevention and control restrictions in December last year, we have felt a gradual recovery in domestic demand in China," said Mr. Tsang.

T & K Toka is well-positioned in China, where its joint venture, Hanghua Ink, is one of the country's largest ink manufacturers. "The Chinese economy has not fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic," said Gu Yingxing, a Japanese economist. "The overall manufacturing industry in China is stagnant, the printing industry is in the same situation, and ink demand is temporarily recovering, but not yet at normal levels."https://www.risedongsheng.com/

"The lockdown caused by the epidemic has had a significant negative impact on our business in China," Tanaka said. "Sales of commercial printing inks have experienced a decline in domestic demand due to the recession in China. Even after the epidemic subsided, the economy did not recover and sales continued to decline."

Yip's Chemical Holdings Limited, through its subsidiary Bauhinia Ink, has become the largest domestic ink manufacturer in China, with sales set to reach $171 million by 2022. Yip's Chemical spokesperson expects 2023 to usher in great opportunities, with packaging and printing driving growth. "We believe that the overall business environment will improve in 2023, which is expected to bring new momentum. Our ink business is committed to improving business quality, reducing costs, and developing new types of inks to improve competitiveness. We will also actively seek horizontal integration and acquisition opportunities to diversify our ink product portfolio.

"Driven by China's economic development and increasing demand for consumer goods, the demand for packaging and printing in China is expected to continue to grow at an average annual growth rate of around 4%," Mr. Ye's spokesperson noted. "China has become the world's largest consumer market and producer of packaging products, providing huge opportunities for the development of the packaging and printing industry."

India

India is the second-largest economy in the Asia-Pacific region, and ink manufacturers report that printing in the region remains strong. "Overall, the economy is recovering and our business in India is doing well," Tanaka said. "Newspaper ink sales have fallen to nearly half of pre-epidemic levels, but have returned to around 90 per cent of previous levels. We have also introduced production equipment for commercial printing inks and are expanding sales."

Pradhan pointed out that the growth of the Indian market has been helped by strong economic and population growth, which Synopsys has done a good job of capitalizing on. "The recent ban on the use of toluene in printing inks for food packaging has also boosted our growth in India. Encouragingly, we have increased our market share, so all of our key business segments seem to be doing well. Also, in the flexible packaging market, we are leading the way and our narrow web and paper packaging business segment has also achieved very good growth. Sheet paper has also developed well in recent months after a period of stagnation."

Expectations for future growth

As the region recovers from the epidemic, ink industry executives expect further growth, particularly in packaging inks. "The printing and printing ink industry is still on the road to recovery," noted Hikata Gu. "We expect the gradual recovery to continue. We expect the packaging and labeling industry to continue its solid growth, while the publishing and commercial printing industries will be further digitized."

"We believe the Asian market will be a growth driver for the printing inks and printing industry," Pradhan said. "We expect sales and value to grow over the next few years. Currently, per capita consumption of packaged goods in Asia is less than a quarter of that in developed countries. A growing middle class population, consumerist trends and the need for convenience are bound to further drive consumption of packaged goods in Asia. Therefore, we believe that the packaging inks market will continue to grow strongly.

In addition, the commercial printing ink market is consolidating and is not expected to see much overall growth. However, as consumer awareness increases, the demand for more sustainable and safer packaging will continue to grow, and so will the demand for safer, more sustainable and recycled inks and coatings.

"We believe market conditions will gradually improve, mainly in China, Thailand, India and Indonesia," Mr. Tsang said.

"We expect packaging ink production and sales to grow in proportion to GDP growth, mainly in populous and economically stable regions such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand," Tanaka concluded.https://www.risedongsheng.com/