For the printing ink industry, 2000 was a year of major significance. Unlike 1999, when consolidations changed the face of the industry, 2000 marked the introduction of a host of new technologies, and the beginnings of industry-wide price increases in the face of escalating raw material costs. As the cost of crude oil continued to rise, suppliers of key raw materials implemented price increases. Facing an even tighter squeeze on already low profits, ink companies began to raise their ...