China ink industry development status and forecast

With the rapid development of packaging industry in China in the past ten years, China's ink industry has also been greatly expanded. Ten years ago, all printing companies mainly used offset printing inks, but now they have extended to the pattern of solvent inks, water-based inks, UV inks, silk screen printing inks, and offset printing inks. In particular, in recent years, the Chinese packaging industry has pursued the exquisite printing and also highlighted the concept of environmental protection. Therefore, the environment-friendly water-based ink and UV ink series have achieved unprecedented improvement.

At present, the high-end packaging industry in the domestic market is the most representative of cigarette marking. Different printing plants have different equipment, so the ink is not the same. From the point of view of the major printing companies in the country, offset printing inks and gravure printing inks are still the mainstream; silk screen printing inks are further subdivided into solvent screen printing and UV screen printing inks, and UV screen printing inks are mainly used for special effects printing. Matte, snow, wrinkles, crystals, etc.; water-based ink is basically still on the edge of the market; UV series products are playing an increasingly important role.

Different inks have different printing aptitudes and their printing effects also have their own characteristics. Gravure ink can be printed in full field, but also can print fine network cable, but the residual solvent odor, the worst environmental protection; Offset printing ink is the best level, the disadvantage is that the overprinting and other varieties of ink is slightly poor; UV series The product is not only glossy, but also thick and flat. It basically covers all the advantages of gravure solvent inks and offset inks. The disadvantages are high requirements for printing equipment, and some products have too much odor, poor flexibility, and other prices. High; water-based ink in addition to flexibility is also acceptable, in addition to the environmental protection can be crowned a "most" word, the other basically no special advantages, I think this is water-based ink is an important reason for difficulties.

With the development of inks in China today, the amount of solvent inks is slowly decreasing. Offset printing inks are basically stable. UV series products and water-based inks are on the rise. The most obvious ones are the UV ink series. This is mainly reflected in the higher level of UV ink printing, and the greater choice of equipment; it can basically be printed on offset, gravure, silk screen, flexo, and all other equipment. The water-based ink can only be printed on the flexo or gravure, because the water-based products also need to import high-end equipment to print fine effects, and expensive, this is not the general printing plant can withstand, so the current water-based ink market is still basically Above the middle and lower carton. From this point of view, it will take time for water-based inks to achieve greater development.

Is China's ink industry come to an end? Where is the future of Chinese ink? How much room for improvement? Many friends in the chemical industry have been puzzled by these issues. I think the friend who raised this issue is a bit overly pessimistic. It should be said that the future ink market competition will become more intense and potential new products will gradually replace old products.

From the perspective of the development pattern of the world's inks, it is still Germany, Japan, the United States and a few other developed countries that master the core technologies of ink. These countries are gradually increasing their investment in the Chinese ink industry. The most representative is the Japanese DIC. , TOYO, Switzerland SICPA, Germany HEIDELBERG, HUBER, the United States AKZO NOBEL and other companies. In addition, from the perspective of ink development, solvent inks are transitioning towards alcohol solubility and low solvent; silk screen printing is also attempting water-based screen printing inks. Due to the unique printing method of silk screen printing, screen printing effects on special prints such as glass and PCB circuit boards are currently Is not comparable to other printing methods; UV ink? Currently, we are working on the research and development of UV dual curing. Once successfully launched into the market, this product will be extended to special glass, wood flooring, automotive decoration, high-end electronic products and other printing fields, which will greatly enhance the appearance of the product and chemical properties; The development of offset printing ink is still based on waterless offset printing. It is said that Japan, Germany and other developed countries have already tried this technology in the market. Once waterless offset printing ink really occupies the market, it will eliminate the issue of ink balance and bring printing problems. Annoyance; water-based ink thing, has begun to tilt to the plastics and other food industries, and now the market has begun to use water-based ink main products are disposable beverage cups, instant noodles, bowls of posts and other printed matter, and other water-based UV has also come out, which is currently compared Worrying water market is undoubtedly a shot in the arm. Deaf people engaged in water-based ink for many years, I have tried to do water-based screen printing ink and water-based UV, from the current point of view, water-based screen printing ink is still a certain degree of difficulty. Because at present in China, it seems that the product has not yet officially entered the market, and there is no need for a large number of products to reach the market before the delay, and it always takes a period of time.

Although I had worried about the prospects of water-based inks, I had also expressed my dissatisfaction with solvent inks, and even stayed on my half-baked knowledge about UVs. However, my heart, my struggle for Chinese ink, never stopped. Although looking back and looking forward to the issue, it does not look back. There is no prospect. Over the years, our chemical people have been advancing with China's ink. This is hope.

Source: China Ink Network