Vishal Pratap Singh
Printing Ink market is expected to maintain steady growth both in terms of volume and revenue till 2025. The major factors that are driving the growth of the market include the growing demand from the digital printing industry and rising demand from the packaging and labels sectors. Owing to its applications in various industries such as packaging, commercial printing, electronic, garment pricing, and the industrial sector, the global printing inks market attained a value of $19.1 billion in 2019.

The global market of Printing Ink is strongly affected and driven by advancements in technology and processes such as ink-jet and digital printing. “Manufacturers are innovating new formulations with each passing day to meet the specific print technology and end user demands,” says Ramakrishna Karanth, CEO of Siegwerk India.

Thermal Inkjet Technology

Thermal Inkjet Printing Technology is mainly used for printing on curved surfaces. This technology made printing high resolution 2D codes, expiration dates and manufacturing codes on curved surfaces a possibility. Thermal Inkjet Printing Technology proved a game-changer for the brands which are concerned about the legibility of information on food and pharmaceutical packaging. Thermal Inkjet Technology has a 10 mm throw distance through which printing can be done on curved surfaces. Also, this technology delivers a lower cost of production and improves the hidden cost of employee health.

Focus on Sustainability

There is a constant pressure on businesses to maintain environment friendly practices. With this growing awareness and appreciation for these issues among business owners, the focus on sustainable practices will inevitably continue. In the last few years, businesses have enhanced sustainability and reduced waste through on-demand printing for customized materials. Previously, companies would have to place large orders to keep prices down but now businesses can order only what they need.

Many printing ink manufacturers are also implementing in house recycling centres to reduce waste. These centres can decrease wasted paper, ink, cartridges and other important by products of the printing process.
Digital Label Printers

Many big and medium sized business houses are taking their printing efforts into their own hands by implementing digital label printers as part of their operations. On a virtual level every physical product needs a quality label, and digital label printers make it possible to print short run packaging. Digital Label Printers are convenient and as businesses can produce high volume of labels quickly and easily. Digital Label Printers allow for increased customization over traditional label printers with set colours, cuts and formats. They make it easier to allow on demand results for special events, promos, and customer personalization.


Due to the quick turnaround capability that digital label printers offer, it has been very popular among various brand owners. There has been many recent developments in digital printing such as creasing, digital carton cutting and some other completion technologies that have increased the potential for more applications in corrugated packaging, flexible packaging as well as in folding cartons.

Moving Towards In-House Manufacturing

Streamlining workflows is an important aspect for every business that conducts printing operations. Most of the industry players are achieving efficiency by moving their processes in-house. There are many benefits of bringing the printing ink process in-house such as it saves cost and secure by not expanding contact to other printing services in the current time of pandemic. With these advantages of the printing ink manufacturing, such as being non-contact and low in cost, this process is extensively used for printing large formats on a wide range of substrates. Also, it is suitable for packaging and can be integrated into existing conversion lines more efficiently.

Manufacturers can also achieve greater control and make changes in a swift manner. While large scale printing of top quality materials is still done by commercial print facilities, manufacturers are seeing positive results by bringing their printing in-house. Moving in-house can help in creating a more streamlined process and can result in faster changes and quicker project completion times.

Variable Data Printing

There are businesses that are highly involved in advertising often use mailers and other printed media to increase brand awareness, advertise products and entice new customers. Up to few years back, these printed items were all the same, but with the introduction of Variable Data Printing companies have the liberty to create customized messaging for specific recipients. Variable Data Printing uses software and data spreadsheets to automatically change the output of a digital printing press and make adjustments to personalize messaging.

The Way Forward

The global printing ink manufacturing is heading towards major consolidations to increase efficiency, support growth, and achieve more leverage with suppliers and customers. Market consolidation will become a long term trend, particularly in the Asian market with unlimited organic growth. Asia Pacific dominated the overall printing inks market at 35.39 percent in 2020 and is anticipated to register strong demand from end-use industries. Countries in Southeast Asia, China, Brazil and India are expected to lead their respective original markets over the coming years.

Read More News :

Government Plans Incentives to Include Existing Automakers in Schemes
Testing Facilities Are of Utmost Necessity, Says NITI Aayog

Editor's Column

Industry Experts
Top