According to SRIC, due to the increasing popularity of electronic media, demand for printing inks in North America, Western Europe and Japan peaked in 2000, and then began to decline year after year. Printing ink consumption in these developed regions will continue to decline in the next five years, but demand in some developing regions will show modest growth.
SRIC said that although the profitability of printing ink manufacturers in the US will be better than last year as the cost of raw materials declines, competition is still fierce. Printing ink manufacturers in Europe will also face the pressure from more stringent environmental regulations, including control of solvent emissions and waste disposal. SRIC also pointed out that in the next five years, China will become the fastest growing country in the global printing ink market, with an average annual growth rate of 6%.
Global printing ink market grows less than 1%
According to the latest research report from SRI Consulting (SRIC), the annual growth rate of the global printing ink market in the next five years is expected to be less than 0.7%. In 2008, the global printing ink consumption was 4.2 million tons, and the total market was 19.5 billion US dollars, of which North America consumed 32% of total global consumption, Western Europe accounted for 25%, Asia (excluding China) accounted for 21%, China accounted for 10%, 6% in Central and Eastern Europe, 5% in Central and South America, and 1% in the Middle East and Africa.