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Sunday 24 June 2018

Adding colors to technology




In an interview, Sambit Roy, Regional Business Head-Pigment, India Region, Clariant with Chemical Today Magazine discusses the opportunities that the inks & pigments industry has in the fast-growing Indian economy.
By Shivani Mody
Trends in inks & pigments industry on a global level.
The global pigments market size was valued at $32.7 billion in 2015 and is expected to garner $43.03 billion by 2022, registering a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period 2022. The market is expected to be driven by the growing demand in Asia-Pacific and rapidly increasing demand from existing applications.
The global printing inks market is expected to reach over US$25 billion by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 4.6% from 2017 to 2025. On the basis of geography, the Asia-Pacific region currently represents the largest market accounting for around one-third of the total global consumption. The increasing demand can be directly attributed to the developing economies of Asia-Pacific and South America which are witnessing rapid urbanization. Due to the change in trends, the traditional, family owned sheet-fed ink companies that were once numerous have now declined in number along with the small sheet-fed printers. Over the past couple of years, the market has been mainly driven by advancements in technology and processes such as ink-jet products and digital printing.
As the sector continues to grow, various strategies have been adopted by leading players in the industry to achieve additional market share which include new product launches, joint ventures, acquisition, partnership, expansion and investments. In the past few years, the consumption of printing inks has increased due to the growth in publishing, packaging industries and Inkjet Printing. Other factors like affordability, constant innovations and popularity of environment-friendly inks are also encouraging the growth of the global ink market. Additionally, companies are continuously investing in R&D to come up with unique and customized applications for their customers.  With a strong backing and a high demand from key end user segments, the ink and pigment market is expected to maintain its current healthy trend for a number of years to come.
Advancement in colourants demand.
The landscape for colourants is fast changing as technology and global economics have exerted pressure on the industry to continuously evolve and innovate. It has therefore become imperative for colourant companies to keep with up the current and emerging trends that are set to change the industry in the future. The colourant market is driven by a number of factors like increasing demand from high performance pigments application, recent developments in end-user industries and rising inclination towards environment-friendly products. The major driving factors for the colourant markets is the growth in the end-user industries, increase in per capita consumption of textiles, enhanced standard of living and rising demand for environmental-friendly products. Colourant companies are building and maintaining production and laboratory facilities at a global scale to keep up to the demands of the ever increasing global customers.
The printing ink industry is moving on from traditional toluene and ketone based inks to non-toulene and non-ketone (NTNK) systems. The demand for UV/EB curable inks is also increasing at a faster pace. The evolution and expansion of color space with IR reflective technologies also continues to gain momentum. Moreover, the transition from traditional to modern methods is bound to change the trends in the ink and pigment sector in the coming years. As the manufacturers get to know about the benefits of newer technologies, everyday life can become better and certainly more colorful for end users and consumers.
Fast growing sectors in Asia Pacific.
The global pigments market is expected to reach revenues of $39 billion USD by 2020, largely due to extraordinary growth in the Asia-Pacific regions. The APAC region accounts for nearly half of the global consumption of pigments and is expected to increase its share in the market even further. There has been a significant demand for products like titanium dioxide which is currently dominating the pigment market, given its widespread use in paints, varnishes and the processing of plastics. This has resulted in a greater demand for higher quality and more consistent pigments which are both color stable and viscosity stable, compatible with a wide range of resin systems and print on a wide variety of substrates. Printing inks are set to develop in a more dynamic way due to the growing market for printed packaging. With a robust demand in the printing ink sector, the market is projected to register steady growth in the coming years. There has been a significant increase in water and solvent-based packaging inks in the recent years and the trend in the packaging ink market segment is moving towards functional and sensory packaging. A substantial demand in alternative ink types such as UV and EB inks has greater demand on pigment properties such as viscosity stability and compatibility.

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