Inkjet Colorants Market Size, Share, Trends, Growth And Forecast

Inkjet Colorants Market Overview

The inkjet colorants market size is forecast to reach US$5.2 billion by 2027 after growing at a CAGR of 6.1% during the forecast period 2022-2027. Inkjet printing is a type of non-impact printing and involves spraying tiny droplets of liquid ink onto paper. Inkjet ink is made with a combination of ingredients including resin, solvents, colorants, and additives. The colorants used in inkjet are pigments and dyes. Various types of inkjet colorants include organic pigments, inorganic pigments, metallic pigments, and dyes. Black ink is made using carbon black pigments, and white pigments like titanium dioxide can be used to lighten other ink colors. Inkjet printing is a form of digital printing, the image or document being printed must be in a digital file format before the printing process can begin. The use of digital printing technology is increasing which acts as a driver for the inkjet colorants market.

COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic had a mixed impact on printing. Due to quarantines, lockdowns, and stay-at-home mandates many companies switched to remote working, which further accelerated the trend toward going paperless which documents being shared digitally. Similarly, schools also switched to online classes which reduced the need to print as exams were conducted online. On account of border closures, global distribution channels were disrupted. For instance, the Chinese closure had a major impact on the publishing business, as the supply chain was disrupted and booksellers ran out of supplies. The sales of newspapers also plummeted as people were worried on the account of the virus being viable on the surface. On the other hand, the demand for other printed materials like comic books children's books, and magazines increased. For instance, according to ICv2 and Comichron, combined comics and graphic novel sales in the US and Canada were approximately $1.28 billion in 2020, a 6% increase over sales in 2019. This impacted the inkjet colorants market during the pandemic.

Report Coverage

The report: “Inkjet Colorants Market Report – Forecast (2022-2027)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the inkjet colorants industry.

Key Takeaways

• Asia-Pacific dominates the inkjet colorants market on account of the packaging and eCommerce industries in the region. According to Invest India, India's online shopper base is poised to be the second-largest globally by 2030, with nearly 500-600 million shoppers 
• The digital printing technology of choice for industrial printing is inkjet. With the increase in industrial printing, the demand for inkjet ink also rises which in turn leads to high demand for inkjet colorants. 
• The major opportunity for this market is to produced sustainable inks by using bio-based ingredients.

Figure: Asia-Pacific Inkjet Colorants Market Revenue, 2021-2027 (US$ Billion)

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Inkjet Colorants Market Segment Analysis – By Type

The pigments segment held the largest share in the inkjet colorants market up to 65% in 2021. There are two types of colorants that can be used in inkjet inks dye and pigment colorants. Pigmented inks are fine powders suspended in liquid form. Pigments are opaque in appearance and offer good lightfastness and weather resistance. Pigment inks provide the least amount of risk for ink transfer. Pigment colorants are suitable for products that are kept outdoors, such as advertisements. Pigment inks are available in a wider range of colors than standard dye-based inks. They offer more versatility to improve color depth, sharpness, and tone by using different ink and paper combinations. Different colored pigments are used to create different ink colors. Black and white ink are made from carbon black and titanium dioxide, accordingly, and they can be used by themselves or with other pigments to alter their color. Traditional printers use four main colors of ink: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. These colors, when mixed together in different proportions, can make the whole spectrum of colors that is needed to print in full color. Pigment-based inkjet inks are waterproof and more resistant to fading as compared to dye-based inkjet inks. Therefore, pigments are the preferred colorants. For instance, over 90% of inks that are produced are printing inks, in which color is imparted by pigments rather than the dyes used in writing inks.

Inkjet Colorants Market Segment Analysis – By Application

The industrial segment held the largest share in the inkjet colorants market up to 21% in 2021. Industrial printing encompasses a number of applications such as packaging printing, signs and displays, textile printing, architectural decoration (floor and wall coverings, furniture decoration, glass decoration, etc.), printed electronics, and 3D printing. The digital printing technology of choice for industrial printing is inkjet. The benefits of using inkjet technology are significant in industries and include the reduction of manufacturing costs, provision of higher quality output, conversion of processes from analog to digital, reduction in inventory, printing onto very large, very small, fragile or non-flat substrates, reduction of waste, customization, and faster prototyping. Digital printing technology is increasingly being adopted in packaging printing. For example, digital print company EFI is enhancing its presence in the Spanish packaging market, owing to two companies that are based in the country opted to invest in Nozomi C18000 LED inkjet corrugated packaging press technology. Italy’s Vignola Cherry Consortium partnered with Ghelfi Ondulati to use corrugated boxes that are digitally printed using HP PageWide TS1100S, a highspeed color inkjet to print a QR code on each box of cherries. Thus, industrial printing is expected to dominate the inkjet colorants market.

Inkjet Colorants Market Segment Analysis – By Geography

The Asia-Pacific region held the largest share in the inkjet colorants market in 2021 up to 45% owing to the growth of the packaging industry in the region. Recent research by Globe Packaging points out that packaging was the top factor driving the purchasing decision. Thus, packaging plays a very important role in products manufactured by other industries. Asia is the world’s largest packaging market as Asian economies, particularly China and India are production-based and consumer-based markets. The Indian packaging industry is growing rapidly on account of the growing pharmaceutical, food processing, FMCG, and healthcare sectors. Government initiatives such as Make in India are boosting local manufacturing which boosts the packaging sector. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), food processing is the largest consumer of packaging at 45%, followed by pharmaceuticals (25%) and personal care products (10%). The packaging market in China has been driven by rapidly-growing sectors such as food & beverage, pharmaceutical, and household chemicals. China is a leading producer of pharmaceutical ingredients and during the COVID-19 pandemic, China has manufactured conventional vaccines, Sinopharm and CoronaVac. According to Nature, a leading international science journal, as of October 2021, China’s CoronaVac and Sinopharm vaccines account for almost half of the 7.3 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses delivered globally and have been enormously important in fighting the pandemic in less wealthy nations. Pharmaceuticals is a target industry under the Made in China 2025 plan. Hence, China is a key market for pharmaceutical production and thereby, pharmaceutical packaging. Packaging is also a key element of eCommerce. Some manufacturers use personalized packaging to create their brand image among consumers. Thus, with the boom in eCommerce in the region, the consumption of printing ink is anticipated to increase which boosts the inkjet colorants market during the forecast period.

Inkjet Colorants Market Drivers

Rise of Digital Printing

Digital printing is changing the face of the printing industry. Digital printing offers several advantages such as customization cost-efficient production, personalization, and sustainability benefits, such as less waste and the ability to use bio-based inks, reduced make-ready and set-up time, and so on. Digital printing technology generally uses highly intricate inkjet machines. A digital image can easily be modified, adjusted, or changed completely and the new print will be ready for printing on demand without having to pause the entire printing process. The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for digital printing technology. Digital printing makes it possible to meet high-value customization requirements, streamlines the supply chain, reduces warehousing requirements, and enables faster time to market. All these attributes of digital printing enabled remote monitoring of printing processes during the pandemic. Amazon announced in September 2020 their plans to expand digital printing capabilities with a $400 million investment in digital printing systems over the next several years. Digital label printing is used in product packaging for almost all industries, including cosmetics, food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, and also private labels. Ongoing technological advancements and the increasing demand for short-run printing are the reasons behind the growth of digital printing of flexible packaging and labels. According to the All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP), digital printing is growing at a robust growth rate of 30% in the country. Thus, the rise of digital printing acts as a driver for the inkjet colorants market.

Growth of eCommerce

In order to survive the pandemic, many stores opted to take the digital route and shifted their businesses online. Due to lockdowns all over the world, physical stores were closed for months leaving customers no choice but to shop online. Thus, COVID-19 accelerated the e-commerce industry’s growth as more companies are opting for the e-commerce route. According to a report by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the share of online retail sales among total retail sales increased from 16% to 19% in 2020. Online retail sales grew markedly in several countries, with the Republic of Korea reporting the highest share at 25.9% in 2020, up from 20.8% in 2019. Similarly, various countries also saw a spike in online transactions over the same period. The UK from 15.8% in 2019 to 23.3% in 2020, China from 20.7% in 2019 to 24.9% in 2020, the US (11% to 14%), Australia (6.3% to 9.4%), Singapore (5.9% to 11.7%) and Canada (3.6% to 6.2%). The surge in online purchasing resulted in high demand for labels and packaging. Digital printing has emerged as a go-to technology for customized printed packaging. The boom in e-commerce purchasing created a sharp increase for pre-printed barcode labels in the logistics supply chains. Thus, the growth of eCommerce drives the inkjet colorants markets. 

Inkjet Colorants Market Challenges

Rising Ink Prices and Raw Material Shortages

The pandemic choked supply chains worldwide which led to raw material shortages in every industry. The ink industry is also no exception. Shortage of raw materials has resulted in increased market prices which is negatively affecting the solvent-based printing inks market. Printing ink companies globally are suffering from a shortage of raw materials, including resins, monomers, photoinitiators, oligomers, and additives. This is mainly attributed to raw material plant closures in China. China is dominant in printing inks raw materials supplies due to the presence of strong refinery capacity and associated chemicals manufacturing ecosystem. Market players have already started facing challenges due to shortages of raw materials. For instance, in July 2020, Sun Chemical, a global printing ink manufacturer, increased the prices of its solvent-based inks and coatings in North America due to an increase in the price of raw materials. According to Producer Price Index data from the US Bureau of Census, printing ink prices increased 8.3% from 2020 to 2021. Prices of pigments went up 11.5%, and carbon black price is up 54.3%. Such challenges pose a threat to the inkjet colorants market.

Inkjet Colorants Industry Outlook

Product launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the inkjet colorants market. Inkjet colorants top 10 companies include:

1. BASF SE
2. LANXESS
3. Nippon Kayaku Co. Ltd.
4. Clariant International AG
5. Toyo Ink Group
6. Cabot Corporation
7. Fujifilm Holdings America Corporation
8. Sun Chemicals
9. Heubach GmbH
10. Huntsman Corporation

Recent Developments

• In January 2022, a consortium of Heubach Group and SK Capital Partners completed the purchase of Clariant’s pigment business. Clariant retains a 20 % stake in the newly formed group. 
• In October 2021, KRONOS Worldwide Inc. launched KRONOS 9900 Digital White, a newly developed aqueous pigment concentrate, to meet the demands of the digital printing industry. KRONOS Digital White covers applications such as water-based inkjet inks, hybrid (water/UV) inkjet, and any other aqueous applications. 
• In June 2021, Sun Chemical and its parent, DIC Corporation finalized the acquisition of BASF’s global pigments business known as BASF Colors & Effects. The purchase will broaden Sun Chemical’s portfolio as a global manufacturer of pigments, including those for electronic displays, cosmetics, coatings, inks, plastics and specialty applications 

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