Growth of the global flexible packaging market promotes the development of the ink industry

Unlike commercial printing companies, which serve customers across all industries, packaging printing companies mainly serve brand suppliers. In the 21st century, globalized solutions, SKU proliferation, cost reduction and personalized demand are all evident, and these real needs of brand owners and consumers are driving packaging companies to change through innovation. Although the view that "a box is just a box" still exists, the form and production methods of packaging are undergoing subtle changes. Companies are increasingly aware of the importance of the packaging industry.

According to the Global Flexible Packaging Market Outlook, the global flexible packaging market will keep growing continuously at an annual rate of 3.5% over the next five years, and its output value is expected to reach USD 231 billion by 2018. This is only one part of the packaging market, which shows that the packaging printing sector has broad development prospects. Printing, which has already become an integral part of packaging, is also developing along with it. This has driven the development of the ink industry.

There is no doubt that the packaging printing market has maintained continuous growth in recent years, and its development over the next few years will remain more optimistic than that of the publication printing market. For this reason, almost all major ink manufacturers have focused their efforts on the packaging printing sector, believing that even if global economic growth slows, the packaging printing market will not fluctuate greatly. So the packaging printing market is an excellent development opportunity for the ink industry, but as people's health awareness continues to grow, the development of inks also faces many challenges.

Recently, Lanzhou City stated that by the end of 2014, all packaging printing enterprises in the city would be required to use inks bearing environmental protection marks and low-toxicity, low-volatility water-soluble solvents, and the use of other non-environmentally friendly inks and solvents with excessive toxic and hazardous substances would be prohibited. This is not an isolated case but a development trend. Therefore, to achieve substantial growth in this market, ink companies must improve the environmental performance of their products, mainly by reducing ink migration, responding to the trend toward small-format packaging, making packaging materials recyclable and reducing environmental impact. In fact, these challenges also bring new market opportunities to ink manufacturers: if they can provide customers with new ink products that align with future development trends, they can gain greater room for growth.

This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-373115.html. All rights belong to the original author; this article is for industry exchange and learning only.