In recent years, the United States ink market dynamics

At the end of 2002, due to the increase in the production of ink in the fourth quarter, ink manufacturers seemed to see a glimmer of hope for the recovery of the ink industry in 2003. However, 2003 brought a series of bad news. According to the National Association of Printing Ink Enterprises, in the first half of 2003, the sales volume of publishing and commercial printing inks decreased by 2.9%, and even worse, ink sales decreased by 5.1%, indicating that ink prices are further deteriorating.

There is even worse data: Although the price of thermosetting inks has dropped by 5.2%, the sales volume is only flat compared with last year. The gravure printing and publishing market was also tragic. In 2003, the output of gravure printing inks dropped by 10.6%, and sales decreased by 13%.
At present, the pressure on major corrugated paper manufacturers in the United States is not small. The flexo-printable water-based inks are in a decline stage. Their output has dropped by 5.7%, and sales have dropped by 7.0%. According to the analysis of the observers, the main reason is that the printing companies' overseas business has changed, and the demand for ink has also changed accordingly. As with corrugated paper printing, the situation of other packaging printing is also not optimistic. In the first half of 2003, packaging printing ink production decreased by 0.8%, while packaging printing ink prices decreased by 1.6%.
In the ink industry, gravure water-based inks with a relatively small proportion of gravure inks have become obscure. Among them, solvent-based flexographic printing inks maintained a good momentum of growth in 2003. Their output increased by 3.7%, and their sales increased by 4.0%.
In spite of this, the Printing Industry Association of America (PIA) still believes that the overall situation of the ink industry in 2003 was slightly better than last year. If we can continue to maintain the increase in the fourth quarter in 2004, there is great hope to emerge from the predicament. However, the flourishing of the ink industry can not be separated from the development of the printing industry. Therefore, the colleagues in the ink industry hope that the printing industry can maintain the upward trend, and hope that in the near future, the ink industry and the printing industry will share growth.