PRINTING INK ADDITIVES MARKET ANALYSIS

Printing ink has applications in various industries including textile, print media, packaging, catalogs, and brochures. Special additives are added to this printing ink, depending upon the requirement of applications, which enhances its performance. These additives help to maintain several characteristics of the ink such as softening point, pH, viscosity, and cloud point. Printing additives include emulsifiers, defoamers, stabilizers, wetting agents, dispersants, and rheology modifiers. Printing inks can be water-based, oil-based, solvent-based, and radiation cured systems. In this, solvent-based rheology modifiers and dispersants are predominantly used in the market.

Market Outlook

Global printing ink additives market size is projected to expand significantly during the forecast period (2019-2027), rising use of printing ink in various industries. Printing ink additives have high demand from packaging industry. High-quality printing enhances the aesthetics of packaging, which is boosting the demand for printing ink additives and subsequently driving the market growth. Furthermore, increasing demand from printing industry is expected to drive the market growth. Digital printing has gained traction around the world in the recent past, owing to superior finishing and aesthetic appearance. Demand for digital printing is expected to increase, which will increase the demand for printing ink additives and hence drive growth of the market during the forecast period. Moreover, water-based printing is expected to offer excellent growth opportunities for market players, owing to lower content of volatile organic contents (VOC) in it.

However, the fluctuating supply of raw materials and stringent environmental regulations by the governmental authorities is expected to hinder the global printing ink additives market during the forecast period.

Market Regional Analysis

Asia Pacific is estimated to gain the largest market share in the global printing ink additives market during the forecast period. This is owing to increasing demand for printing ink additives from commercial printing and packaging industries in emerging economies such as Japan and China. Moreover, other emerging economies such as South Korea and India are expected to post excellent growth opportunities for the market in the region. Furthermore, Europe is expected to follow Asia Pacific in terms of market growth, owing to increasing demand for printing ink additives from digital printing markets. The countries such as Germany, France, and the U.K. are the leading contributors. Moreover, North America is projected to gain the third highest market share, due to increasing demand for printing ink additives from developed countries such as the U.S.

Market Players

Key players operating in the global printing ink additives market include MÜNZING Micro Technologies GmbH, BASF SE, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Clariant AG, and Honeywell International Inc.

Key Developments

Leading players operating in the market are adopting various strategies such as mergers & acquisitions and new product launch in order to maintain their market share in global market. For instance, July 2019, ALTANA, the specialty chemicals group acquired the operating assets of the Paul N. Gardner Company Inc. The acquisition is aimed towards expanding Instruments Business Line of the BYK Division of ALTANA.

In November 2019, The Chemours Company introduced new specialty, low-abrasion grade of Ti-Pure titanium dioxide pigment designed for improving the performance and formulation of printing inks.

In October 2019, BASF launched Dispex Ultra PX 4290, a new high molecular dispersing agent, which offers excellent performance in pigment stabilization. The applications of PX 4290 can be further extended to printing inks and adhesives.