Asia-Pacific (APAC) Printing Inks Market by Product (Lithographic Inks [Sheetfed Offset Inks, Heatset Web Offset Inks, Coldset Web offset Inks], Flexographic Inks, Gravure Inks, Digital Inks [Electrography, Inkjet], Letterpress Inks), by Formulation (Oil-Based, Solvent-Based, Water-Based), by Application (Labels & Packaging, Commercial Printing, Publication [Newspapers, Books & Magazines], by Geography (China, Japan, India, Australia) – Market Size, Share, Development, Growth, and Demand Forecast, 2013–2023

APAC Printing Inks Market Overview

The APAC printing inks market is estimated to attain a size of $5,344.1 million in 2017 and is projected to reach $7,000.2 million by 2023, registering a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. The major factors driving the growth of market are the growing consumption of packaged food items and rising demand of bio-based products across the region.

Printing inks are liquids or pastes that contain pigments or dyes and are used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. They are widely used to color surfaces such as newspaper, books and magazines, cardboard, and ceramic tiles.

Based on product, the APAC printing inks market is segmented into lithographic inks, flexographic inks, gravure inks, digital inks, letterpress inks, and others. Others include metallic inks, fluorescent inks, and magnetic inks. Among all products, flexographic inks has been the largest category in the market, contributing more than 35.0% revenue in 2017. This can be attributed to the advantages they offer, such as they support a range of colors, can be used with water-based as well as oil-based inks, and others.

Based on formulation, the APAC printing inks market is categorised into oil-based, solvent-based, water-based, and others. Oil-based has been the largest formulation category in the market, contributing more than 40.0% revenue in 2017. This can be attributed to its properties of printing well and better on most of the things, including coated or gloss stocks, as compared to other inks.

On the basis of application, the APAC printing inks market is classified into labels and packaging, commercial printing, publication, and others. Labels and packaging application accounted for more than 40.0% share in the market in 2017. This can be attributed to the growing packaging applications in the e-commerce industry, which is expected to increase the demand of printing inks in the coming years.

APAC Printing Inks Market Dynamics

Key trends in the APAC printing inks market include shift towards flexography printing inks and growing capital investments to increase the production capacity.

Trends

From the last some years, traditional inks are being replaced by flexography inks, which have been gaining traction on account of increasing growth in end-use industries such as food and beverage, packaging, printing, and cosmetics. These inks offer some great benefits over traditional inks, which include faster printing process, ability to be printed on non-absorbent material, and greater printing options through range of colors. Rising consumer spending pattern and changing lifestyle boosting the sales of packaged consumer products, and growing awareness of high quality flexible packaging products is further contributing to the growing demand of these flexography inks.

Drivers

Growing consumption of packaged food items and rising demand of bio-based products are the major drivers identified in the APAC printing inks market.
Robust growth in the packaging industry is expected to play a crucial role in the APAC printing inks market. Packaging has become an integral part of all sectors that require accurate labelling to assure the sale of authentic final products to end-users. Factors such as increasing disposable incomes and the emergence of various businesses including food and beverage industry, health care sector, and other consumer goods have significantly increased the growth of these inks all over the world.

Restraints

E-commerce and digitization are expected to serve as a restraint in the APAC printing inks market.

E-commerce and digitization of books have started gaining traction in advanced as well as emerging APAC nations over the past few years, which is expected to reduce the demand for these inks in the publication sector during the forecast period. The paradigm-shift towards digitization, due to growing consumer preference to read books on e-readers and tablets, has created new possibilities in the book industry. This has significantly increased the trend of producing e-books, and hardcover and paperback print volumes, thereby resulting in loss of paper-based communication in the book publishing sector. This would adversely impact the growth of the printing inks market during the forecast period.

APAC Printing Inks Market Competitive Landscape

Some of the major players operating in the APAC printing inks market are DIC Corporation, Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co. Ltd., Sakata INX Corporation, T&K Toka Co. Ltd., Tokyo Printing Ink Mfg. Co. Ltd., Hubergroup India Pvt. Ltd., Siegwerk Druckfarben AG & Co. KGaA, Daihan Ink. Co. Ltd., Yip’s Chemical Holdings Limited, SICPA, Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co. Ltd.