Sheetfed Ink: Challenges Rise in 2008, Decline in Demand

In the past year, the performance of sheetfed ink in the business printing sector has been weak, and the performance in the folding carton market has remained fairly stable. As far as the current status of the traditional ink market is concerned, the performance of the sheet-fed offset printing market is a barometer, because the sheet-fed ink market covers the fields of business and packaging printing.

With the deep recession of the global economy, the business of sheetfed ink in the field of commercial printing is being affected, while the packaging sector has performed relatively well.

According to Doug Labertew, vice president of product management and strategy for Flint Group's printing consumables (North America) company, like other ink markets, the global sheetfed paper market has experienced challenging 2008, and the market performance has been compared with that of 2007. The decline.

Mr. Labertew added: "This decline was particularly noticeable in the fourth quarter. In the past, this was usually the period when the market was most active. The packaging and business printing market also experienced similar conditions, although the impact on the business market was indeed positive. It's faster and to a greater extent. This is not surprising, because the business printing market is more closely linked to macroeconomic fluctuations. When companies cut spending, advertising budgets are bound to bear the brunt."

Dave Sambo, vice president of the offset printing division of INX Ink, pointed out that in all areas of commercial printing and packaging printing except food packaging, sales performance has declined.

Mr. Sambo said: "In all food-related packaging areas, according to the type of food, the sales performance has either maintained the level of 2007 or achieved significant growth, which is the trade and the global and domestic markets. The economic situation determines that when the economic environment makes people feel comfortable, they are more willing to go out to eat.The attendance rate of restaurants is always sensitive to changes in the economic environment.In difficult economic circumstances, certain markets usually perform better. , including fast food (including takeaways) and boxed foods (including frozen staples such as pizza and various frozen packages)."

Sun Chemical North America Ink, vice president of product management for the Commercial Printing Ink Division, said Brian Breidigan said that the 2008 sheetfed printing industry has been a challenging year.

Mr. Breidigan said: “The market performance of traditional and UV sheetfed inks is weak or weak, and, in the context of economic recession, it is also experiencing costs from the same as other ink markets in the printing industry. With the pressure of price and price, Sunchem is committed to helping customers successfully expand their business.This means that what we do for our customers every day is to continuously strengthen our core competitiveness in business, such as reliability. , arrival timeliness, product quality stability, and investment in product development."

Michelle Hearn, Marketing Director of Solar Chemistry North American Ink Company, added: “When you look at things from the perspective of market perspective, what we have seen is that the folding carton packaging market has not been significantly weakened because of customer demand. There is little change, but on the other hand, most of the products covered by the sheet-fed business printing market have large fluctuations in demand.Ad display items and brochures are good examples.Thus, most companies Considering how to cut expenses, it is not surprising that the business sheet-fed market is sluggish."

In his report, Steve Simpson, chief technology officer and senior vice president of Superior Printing Ink, pointed out that the packaging market performed better than the commercial market.

Mr. Simpson added: “Print customers are minimizing inventory and are very cautious about managing their distribution channels. As a result, the length of single-order orders for prints has become shorter, and the number of special-purpose tones has decreased, and more prints tend to be four-color. print."

Mr. Simpson pointed out: “In the current economic downturn, customers who have invested in high-speed sheetfed presses are striving to expand their production capacity. This is another market trend that we see, for those printing speeds can reach 18,000 per hour. For Zhang’s presses, these customers are losing money if they print at a rate of 16,000. I think this will be an interesting phenomenon, a bit like a war, and the two parties fighting are new ones that have not yet recovered their costs. Machines and old machines that are not efficient but have already recovered costs. Our commitment remains the same: our products have as much overall performance as possible, and the products that are stable on this machine have brought various benefits to our customers."

Daryl Collins, vice president of domestic sales and regional operations at WikoffColor, said: "The US trade environment is very bad. As an ink manufacturer, we have experienced significant and frequent increases in raw material prices in the past year, followed immediately by the end of 2008. The sudden shrinkage has made our situation even more difficult. Nevertheless, I think the performance of the sheet-fed packaging market is still better than that of the commercial printing market."

John Copeland, president and COO of Toyo Ink Americas, said: "To sum up, as far as the entire industry is concerned, we know that the capacity of the sheetfed printing market has shrunk, and our company's business in the sheetfed market has still improved. ”

Leading the power of the sheetfed market

The weakening of the macro economy, new technologies, industry consolidation, and weak market demand are the leading forces in the development of the sheetfed market. Ink manufacturers are working closely with their customers to help them adapt to market changes.

Mr. Copeland said: “All of the above-mentioned forces are affecting the sheetfed industry. Toyo Ink Americas is working with printers to provide the right products and high-end technologies for each application area to satisfy customers. End user needs help."

Mr. Sambo said: "The sluggish market demand can be attributed to the disappointing economic development prospects depicted by the current government. Official positions and actions can change the public's point of view and may gradually stimulate people's point of sale (POP) and luxury. Consumer confidence in products."

Mr. Sambo said: “Some emerging technologies are being introduced into the market. Moreover, the shift of inks to the green direction is the clearest action leading the development trend of the offset printing market. At INX, we have a 'Green Vision' team and a A quarterly magazine that aims to nurture and promote this very important ideological revolution. We will manage our recycling resources and incorporate them into the structure of our ink formulations. Not only that, we have introduced a process to reduce carbon In order to reduce the pollution of the environment, INX's employees regularly participate in industry gatherings and seminars and convey this information to our customers and employees."

Mr. Labertew said: “Even before the economic dilemma began to emerge in 2008, the business sheet-fed paper market has faced many challenges. The Internet and other media are constantly eroding the budget of the printing market. At the same time, many are used in ink. The cost of raw materials in China has risen, and some of the major direct and indirect raw material production capacity has begun to reduce. The current economic situation we have seen has only played a role in fueling the growth."

Mr. Labertew said: "In the difficult economic environment, people generally think that the packaging market is the most immune, because it is less affected by the reduction of advertising budget. However, it does suffer from all kinds of shocks. Including the obvious decline in macroeconomics, the reduction in the number of packages advocated by social sustainable development, and the shrinking demand for consumer goods that may be used to store or transport packages.Furthermore, flexible packaging is still a big rival for sheet-fed packaging on the shelves. ”

Mr. Labertew added: "In the face of difficult market conditions, Flint Group worked closely with customers to help them maximize the performance of the ink on the press to achieve the best printing performance. We pay close attention to customer needs and markets. The only change in legislation is that we can provide our clients with forward-looking proposals and promote their business development. We are committed to providing products that are highly competitive in quality and cost, and at the same time, in the development of new technologies and In terms of support, we have also spared no effort, such as the INULINE ink varnish system we developed and the Novastar Anilox ink series updated with anilox roller technology.Flint Group also found a huge market potential for environmentally friendly products. Such as the new generation of Novavit F918 SupremeBio inks, these high-performance plant-based inks are good at high-speed printing.Although each supplier has experienced the difficulties of last year, we still see a strong demand for inks and outstanding suppliers in the sheetfed printing market. The customer's needs remain the same. Quality or efficiency and innovation. "

Briedigan said: "At present, multiple forces are jointly leading the development of the traditional sheetfed industry. Clearly, the macroeconomic downturn is an intrinsic factor that restricts the development of the entire industry, and it is a catalyst that leads to further industry consolidation and shrinking market demand. The economic downturn has not only led to a reduction in the demand for printed materials, but also accelerated the conversion of traditional printing to digital printing processes.We are still focused on our customers. Through our high quality products, services, and new and innovative products, we have always Committed to improving the productivity of printing manufacturers."

"This year's new technologies are more focused on plant extraction, recyclables, and cost reductions. These new technologies have attracted a great deal of interest from customers because they have met two major themes this year: sustainability and conservation."

Sun Chemistry North American Ink Company, vice president of product management for the energy-curable ink division, GrantShouldice, said: “In the field of energy-cured sheetfed printing, as you expect in the current economic environment, we have seen that efficiency has become a The trend is that customers are trying their best to control all costs and shift to the most efficient production model without sacrificing quality.”