All of the individuals that Ink World spoke to said that their respective companies performed well in 2017. They were asked to provide an outlook for 2018.

Darren Bianchi: “We know that we must pass on raw material price increases and that they may be unpredictable for the foreseeable future. With that said, demand for products meeting/exceeding market need remains strong.”

Pierre Boulangue: “2018 will most probably show the same as 2017, a challenging year in intermediate availability, increasing prices, more stringent regulations but Ferro is well placed and has taken the right measurements to coop with that and therefore we are looking positive towards 2018.”

Tanja Guethlin: “Raw material availability is expected to be a recurring issue during 2018. In the digital printing market, we see further growth by two digits. The major growth impulse is set by inkjet-based printers and the application fields of packaging and labeling. Also, still rather small markets started to contribute to the digital success story like textile printing and deco. Both can be seen moving straight forward more digital due to the increased customer needs: low volume runs being delivered on short-term.”

Neil Hersh: “Packaging and labels should continue to see growth, while other commercial segments will remain under pressure.”

Dr. Sanjay Monie: “We expect the consolidation in the industry to continue, and pricing pressures to dominate the mature and contracting segments such as newsprint and publication printing. As before, we will differentiate ourselves by focusing on growth markets, emphasizing our advanced products and providing strong technical support to our customers.”

Jeff Okaichi: “In the years to come, we can expect to see compliance regulations to intensify as greater environmental regulations related to the use of eco-friendly clean material alternatives, resulting in increased demand for high performance pigments, functional and clean pigments. The growth of digital printing is a trend we are closely watching. Global demand for inkjet ink for small-lot printing is expected to increase for years to come.”

Falko Orlowski: “We expect that 2018 will be a challenging year.  Demand for pigment still exists but the raw material situation is tight and the cost of raw materials has risen sharply since Q4.  We think the situation may improve in Q2 with increased production, but there is no doubt that prices will never go back to the level seen in early of 2017.”

Oliver Pfefferkorn: “We are planning growth for 2018 despite the challenging market conditions. As a manufacturer, our capacities were not affected by EP shutdown like many others due to our investments in effluent treatment. As a distributor to client, 2018 is the year REACH will be fully implemented in Europe, years of work registering our products comes to some form of conclusion. Working these strategies makes us one of the most sustainable partners for organic pigments.”

Chris Weighill: “We anticipate 2018 will be an extremely challenging year for the pigment and ink industries. The lack of availability of key intermediates will significantly impact pigment production. This has inevitably led to steep increases in pigment prices in the last two quarters, especially in the classical azo area. We expect this uncertainty will continue for the foreseeable future.”


To read the full feature,Pigment Market Growth Expected, But Challenges Remain Ahead, click here.