In recent years, the printing and printing ink industry has been struggling with difficulties. It has seen a dramatic drop in the thermoset ink market, and the sales volume of gravure printing inks for books and magazines has dropped by double digits. The most interesting thing is that prices have always fallen faster than output, and price erosion continues.
In the first half of 2004, the ink industry had good news in some product areas, while the other part of the market remained difficult. Overall, according to the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM), production increased by 1.2% and sales rose by 2.4%.
The good news came from the newspaper ink market. According to the NAPIM survey, news ink sales rose by 2.9% while sales increased by 6.6%.
However, thermosetting inks have not been able to share good luck. Although sales rose by 2.7% in the first half of 2004, sales fell by 1.6%. Gravure printing inks continued to decline.
When considered comprehensively, sales have risen for the first time since 1999, which is undoubtedly a good thing for the ink industry, but it is only that the further price erosion is disturbing.
American and International Markets
The US books and magazines market showed some strong signs in 2004. The magazine's advertising campaign improved slightly from year to year, but it did not return to its 2000 level. Book Printing has also grown, but the directory roster has been challenged by the Internet. Newspaper printing shows continuous development momentum.
Mark Levin, vice president of Sun Chemical's North American Printing and Printing Division, said: “All industries and publications are facing intense competition from newly developed media. Despite some mergers and acquisitions, there is excess capacity in the printing industry and the competition among printers. Very fierce, especially in the current situation of many raw material prices, leading to the shrinking profits of printers and upstream suppliers."
Susan Kuchta, Flint’s vice president of North American Books, said: “Although the growth is not as good as expected, the market for books and magazines is still growing steadily. We have seen rapid growth in the fast-growing market for books and periodicals.”
The increase in advertising business is the key to growth.
Outside the United States, the publishing industry has not achieved significant growth.
Dr. Ansgar Nonn, President of the Printing Media Business Unit of the Siegwerk Group and the International Business Director said: “The market for gravure printed books and rotary offset printing is basically the same. In Asia, publications outside Japan are generally not gravure, so the market is small.”
There are indications that some US print publications may be transferred overseas. Sun Chemical officials said that more and more Asian and South American printers are looking for new markets in the United States, especially prints such as books and calendars.
Kuchta said: “We have seen the trend of printing production out of the United States, mainly those that are not time-sensitive and that require a lot of manual processing. This is particularly evident in the book market.”
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