The packaging and narrow web/label fields are two of the strongest markets for printing. By contrast, publication printing has been on the decline in recent years, and will likely continue to do so.

With more than $1.1 billion in sales in 2014, Siegwerk Druckfarben is the world’s fifth-largest ink manufacturer. Its ink operations are almost solely set in the packaging field, which is a pretty good place to be right now. Up until recently, Siegwerk had some publication ink sales in web offset and gravure.

In 2016, much has changed for Siegwerk, as three moves signal the company’s plans to focus on growth markets. The first move came in February, when Flint Group agreed to purchase Siegwerk’s web offset business. Completion is still subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.

For Flint Group, which has a major presence in the heatset ink market,  the acquisition makes sense. It also makes a lot of sense for Siegwerk, which now can completely focus on liquid ink manufacturing (its only presence in publication is in gravure, a liquid ink, which the company reports it has a 45% market share in Europe).

“To ensure the lasting success of our company, we need to clearly devote our resources to serving the markets of tomorrow. We will do so by focusing on our core packaging printing business,” said Siegwerk CEO Herbert Forker in announcing the move.  

In March, Siegwerk made its own move, subject to the customary approvals, by signing a contract to acquire ACTEGA Colorchemie from ALTANA Group.

ACTEGA Colorchemie is a water-based flexo ink specialist, with an emphasis on the corrugated business. With operations in Germany, France, Austria and Poland, ACTEGA Colorchemie has a significant presence in Europe. This move will allow Siegwerk to strengthen its presence in the corrugated market and add to its water-based packaging ink portfolio.

One area where Siegwerk has not had an impact is the inkjet field, but the company recently announced that it has added a dedicated inkjet lab in Annemasse, France, and is developing inkjet inks for labels and packaging.

As a leader in the packaging ink market, Siegwerk has built up a major portfolio of products to serve converters. These three moves signal that Siegwerk will be committed to packaging and liquid inks in the coming years.