Catherine Diamond, Associate Editor05.13.16
The global market for packaging printing has witnessed rapid growth, according to research firm Markets and Markets, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.26% to reach USD $587.19 billion by 2020. In a report titled Packaging Printing Market by Ink Type (Water Based & UV Curable), Printing Technology (Flexography, Rotogravure, Offset, Digital), Material (Paper & Paperboard, Flexible & Rigid Plastic, Glass & Metal), Application (Food & Beverages, Cosmetics & Toiletries, and Healthcare) - Trends & Forecast to 2020, which was published in August 2015, researchers found that the Asia-Pacific region is projected to become the fastest growing market for printing packaging. The market is being driven by increasing competition, consumer awareness, rising consumer spending, demand for aesthetic appeal of packaging, and sustainable printing, according to Markets and Markets.
In recent years, Asia-Pacific has dominated the market. While 2015 numbers are not yet available, it has been determined that this region’s share of the global market was approximately 37% in 2014. The packaging printing market in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2015 to 2020, in terms of volume, Markets and Markets researchers found. This growth is largely fueled by a rising middle class with increasing disposable incomes and demand for sustainable printing methods, according to the report.
Tadashi Nakano, manager, Global Innovation Division, Toyo Ink Co., Ltd., said that improving economic conditions worldwide, along with increased urbanization in developing economies, has contributed the most to positive growth rates.
“This has resulted in significant lifestyle changes in particular in steadily growing developing economies, such as Southeast Asia,” Nakano said. “Changing lifestyles and higher disposable incomes of consumers in the region have led to an increase in consumer preference for processed foods and convenience-oriented products, such as ready-made meals. A rapidly growing middle class fuels demand for more goods and services to support more affluent ‘on-the-go’ lifestyles.
“The flexible plastic packaging segment continues to be the fastest growing sector,” Nakano added. “Further growth of the food and beverages market, a key market for plastic packaging, has been fueling market expansion. Metal cans and glass packaging continue to lose share to plastic in the key food and beverage market, particularly in mature markets. Flexible packaging’s popularity can also be attributed to its lighter weight, excellent aesthetics and improvements in barrier properties of plastic films.”
In addition to growth in the flexo market, Sun Chemical’s Tony Renzi, VP, product management packaging, North American Inks, said that there is also growth in the folding carton and corrugated markets. Additional growth, Renzi said, comes from the narrow web, tag and label printing segments.
“Consumer packaged goods companies are looking for support in their sustainability efforts and Sun Chemical has helped by providing solutions that meet their goals of source reduction, a smaller number of packaging layers, along with decreased package size. Additionally, biodegradable and more recyclable flexible packaging materials are currently favored by both major retailers and brand owners. Sun Chemical anticipates further growth opportunities from these key areas related to sustainability,” Renzi added.
Market requirements and customer challenges
Challenges in the packaging ink market are numerous, as suppliers are required to meet global regulations as well as specific customer requirements.
Robert Doerffel, corporate communications manager – Europe at hubergroup, said the primary challenges in the packaging inks market can be listed according to the type of ink: liquid packaging and offset packaging inks. In terms of liquid packaging inks, the major challenge is the “restriction of suitable raw materials because of different legislation, including REACH in Europe, European Community legislation, Swiss Ordinance, and individual brand owner exclusion lists.”
Regarding offset packaging inks, Doerffel said that continuous improvements in the chemical analysis methods lead to growing expectations for purity of raw materials.
“Sources guaranteeing this high purity are becoming growingly hard to find,” he added.
Other trials faced in the packaging ink market include pressroom efficiency. Grant Shouldice, VP global marketing and technology for Flint Group Packaging & Narrow Web, said that SKU proliferation, personalization and regionalization of some products has greatly contributed to this.
“High speed is not the sole answer to this challenge but it definitely plays a large role,” he said. “Determining how to make good use of sustainable raw materials and films while improving recyclability or compostability without impacting overall costs is a major challenge as well.”
Trends In Packaging
As consumers are increasingly drawn to unique and customized products – and marketers are challenged to engage said consumers with products – brand owners are offering an increased number of SKUs and alternative versions of products.
Herbert Forker, CEO at Siegwerk, said that there is a trend with a growing short run demand driven by brand owners desiring regionalization and personalization as well as effect varnishes and special finishing of their product packaging.
“This trend will drive growth of digital printing technologies in packaging as it enables packaging manufacturers to react even faster to specific customer requirements,” he said. “The speed of flexible packaging printing presses continues to increase – up to 2,000 fpm – which also requires new formulation demands on traditional ink technology. Furthermore, we expect a volume switch from conventional UV to low migration UV inks in the printing market for this year. LED UV curing will be one of the growth drivers. Further expansion of LED UV ink applications will enable printers to use these inks for the full range of products. The focus of printers and brand owners for sustainable and innovative packaging printing will also drive the development activities in all ink technologies.”
Nakano, of Toyo, said that there are two primary trends for this segment: a focus on food safety and extending shelf life. In terms of food safety, Nakano said that consumers are putting greater responsibility on food companies to ensure the safety of the products they deliver to market.
“With regulation related to food packaging safety expected to grow even tighter, we expect to see food and beverage producers put greater emphasis on compliance. This will result in increased interest in low migration and low-odor products for use in food packaging and the development of alternative materials for use in food contact materials. More and more package converters are expected to invest in 2016 in new production machinery or switch over to the use of low migrations inks throughout their production process in a proactive move to be fully compliant with legislation,” he said.
Extending shelf life is essential, Nakano said, because of rapid urbanization throughout the world. As it continues to fuel the expansion of the food processing and packaging industry, the industry continues to play a key role in ensuring that consumers in urban areas have a constant supply of foods that are nutritious and safe to eat, he said.
“At present, one-third of the world’s food production is currently being discarded. With increasing pressure to reduce food wastage, we can expect to see innovations that can help extend the shelf life of food, such as new packaging materials with improved barrier and antioxidant properties. Retort pouches is another technology proving useful in this area. Since its contents can be kept for longer periods without the use of preservatives, we expect retort pouch to grow significantly in various fields. The Toyo Ink Group is a retort pouch pioneer and has been developing related technologies in cooperation with food manufacturers since the 1970s,” Nakano added.
Low migration inks
As focus on food safety increases, so too does the popularity of low migration inks. According to Renzi of Sun Chemical, low migration packaging continues to be a market focus, “but rather than describe the focus as low migration inks, it is more accurate to describe the interest as low migration packaging,” he said.
“This means that all the materials in the packaging construction and process contribute to a low migration package. Sun Chemical continues to work with our customers in contributing an ink that will help the package meet the low migration packaging requirements. In order to comply with the various regulations in the marketplace, many European converters are especially interested in our wide range of low migration solutions. We have also seen increased interest in North America and South America, but at a slower rate than in Europe.”
Shouldice, of Flint Group, said that the company supplies a broad range of low migration inks and has seen a jump in interest in North America.
“In general, food safety and compliance interest has increased sharply over the last few years,” he said.
According to Forker, CEO of Siegwerk, the increased demand for low migration ink systems can be attributed to both existing and forthcoming regulations for food-related applications.
“Therefore,” he said, “we don’t only exclude toxic substances based on regulatory exclusion criteria but moreover design all food packaging inks to minimize the potential for the transfer of ink components of concern into food, whilst meeting the high end-use requirements.”
In recent years, Asia-Pacific has dominated the market. While 2015 numbers are not yet available, it has been determined that this region’s share of the global market was approximately 37% in 2014. The packaging printing market in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2015 to 2020, in terms of volume, Markets and Markets researchers found. This growth is largely fueled by a rising middle class with increasing disposable incomes and demand for sustainable printing methods, according to the report.
Tadashi Nakano, manager, Global Innovation Division, Toyo Ink Co., Ltd., said that improving economic conditions worldwide, along with increased urbanization in developing economies, has contributed the most to positive growth rates.
“This has resulted in significant lifestyle changes in particular in steadily growing developing economies, such as Southeast Asia,” Nakano said. “Changing lifestyles and higher disposable incomes of consumers in the region have led to an increase in consumer preference for processed foods and convenience-oriented products, such as ready-made meals. A rapidly growing middle class fuels demand for more goods and services to support more affluent ‘on-the-go’ lifestyles.
“The flexible plastic packaging segment continues to be the fastest growing sector,” Nakano added. “Further growth of the food and beverages market, a key market for plastic packaging, has been fueling market expansion. Metal cans and glass packaging continue to lose share to plastic in the key food and beverage market, particularly in mature markets. Flexible packaging’s popularity can also be attributed to its lighter weight, excellent aesthetics and improvements in barrier properties of plastic films.”
In addition to growth in the flexo market, Sun Chemical’s Tony Renzi, VP, product management packaging, North American Inks, said that there is also growth in the folding carton and corrugated markets. Additional growth, Renzi said, comes from the narrow web, tag and label printing segments.
“Consumer packaged goods companies are looking for support in their sustainability efforts and Sun Chemical has helped by providing solutions that meet their goals of source reduction, a smaller number of packaging layers, along with decreased package size. Additionally, biodegradable and more recyclable flexible packaging materials are currently favored by both major retailers and brand owners. Sun Chemical anticipates further growth opportunities from these key areas related to sustainability,” Renzi added.
Market requirements and customer challenges
Challenges in the packaging ink market are numerous, as suppliers are required to meet global regulations as well as specific customer requirements.
Robert Doerffel, corporate communications manager – Europe at hubergroup, said the primary challenges in the packaging inks market can be listed according to the type of ink: liquid packaging and offset packaging inks. In terms of liquid packaging inks, the major challenge is the “restriction of suitable raw materials because of different legislation, including REACH in Europe, European Community legislation, Swiss Ordinance, and individual brand owner exclusion lists.”
Regarding offset packaging inks, Doerffel said that continuous improvements in the chemical analysis methods lead to growing expectations for purity of raw materials.
“Sources guaranteeing this high purity are becoming growingly hard to find,” he added.
Other trials faced in the packaging ink market include pressroom efficiency. Grant Shouldice, VP global marketing and technology for Flint Group Packaging & Narrow Web, said that SKU proliferation, personalization and regionalization of some products has greatly contributed to this.
“High speed is not the sole answer to this challenge but it definitely plays a large role,” he said. “Determining how to make good use of sustainable raw materials and films while improving recyclability or compostability without impacting overall costs is a major challenge as well.”
Trends In Packaging
As consumers are increasingly drawn to unique and customized products – and marketers are challenged to engage said consumers with products – brand owners are offering an increased number of SKUs and alternative versions of products.
Herbert Forker, CEO at Siegwerk, said that there is a trend with a growing short run demand driven by brand owners desiring regionalization and personalization as well as effect varnishes and special finishing of their product packaging.
“This trend will drive growth of digital printing technologies in packaging as it enables packaging manufacturers to react even faster to specific customer requirements,” he said. “The speed of flexible packaging printing presses continues to increase – up to 2,000 fpm – which also requires new formulation demands on traditional ink technology. Furthermore, we expect a volume switch from conventional UV to low migration UV inks in the printing market for this year. LED UV curing will be one of the growth drivers. Further expansion of LED UV ink applications will enable printers to use these inks for the full range of products. The focus of printers and brand owners for sustainable and innovative packaging printing will also drive the development activities in all ink technologies.”
Nakano, of Toyo, said that there are two primary trends for this segment: a focus on food safety and extending shelf life. In terms of food safety, Nakano said that consumers are putting greater responsibility on food companies to ensure the safety of the products they deliver to market.
“With regulation related to food packaging safety expected to grow even tighter, we expect to see food and beverage producers put greater emphasis on compliance. This will result in increased interest in low migration and low-odor products for use in food packaging and the development of alternative materials for use in food contact materials. More and more package converters are expected to invest in 2016 in new production machinery or switch over to the use of low migrations inks throughout their production process in a proactive move to be fully compliant with legislation,” he said.
Extending shelf life is essential, Nakano said, because of rapid urbanization throughout the world. As it continues to fuel the expansion of the food processing and packaging industry, the industry continues to play a key role in ensuring that consumers in urban areas have a constant supply of foods that are nutritious and safe to eat, he said.
“At present, one-third of the world’s food production is currently being discarded. With increasing pressure to reduce food wastage, we can expect to see innovations that can help extend the shelf life of food, such as new packaging materials with improved barrier and antioxidant properties. Retort pouches is another technology proving useful in this area. Since its contents can be kept for longer periods without the use of preservatives, we expect retort pouch to grow significantly in various fields. The Toyo Ink Group is a retort pouch pioneer and has been developing related technologies in cooperation with food manufacturers since the 1970s,” Nakano added.
Low migration inks
As focus on food safety increases, so too does the popularity of low migration inks. According to Renzi of Sun Chemical, low migration packaging continues to be a market focus, “but rather than describe the focus as low migration inks, it is more accurate to describe the interest as low migration packaging,” he said.
“This means that all the materials in the packaging construction and process contribute to a low migration package. Sun Chemical continues to work with our customers in contributing an ink that will help the package meet the low migration packaging requirements. In order to comply with the various regulations in the marketplace, many European converters are especially interested in our wide range of low migration solutions. We have also seen increased interest in North America and South America, but at a slower rate than in Europe.”
Shouldice, of Flint Group, said that the company supplies a broad range of low migration inks and has seen a jump in interest in North America.
“In general, food safety and compliance interest has increased sharply over the last few years,” he said.
According to Forker, CEO of Siegwerk, the increased demand for low migration ink systems can be attributed to both existing and forthcoming regulations for food-related applications.
“Therefore,” he said, “we don’t only exclude toxic substances based on regulatory exclusion criteria but moreover design all food packaging inks to minimize the potential for the transfer of ink components of concern into food, whilst meeting the high end-use requirements.”