Asia-Pacific traditional ink "step" environmental protection ink

Green ink is an important area of ​​concern. In many countries in the Asia Pacific region, environmental regulations will become increasingly stringent, and some printers will find it difficult to adapt to this change in the current difficult economic situation, while ink manufacturers work hard to meet the requirements of these new standards.

The Asia-Pacific ink industry has seen a shift from traditional solvent-based inks to environmentally friendly inks such as water-based flexo inks, soybean oil inks, and UV inks. The development and production capacity of environmental inks has become one of the key factors for ink manufacturers to win in the Asia Pacific region in the future.

The current demand for toluene-based packaging gravure inks is still growing. Toluene-free nitrocellulose-based inks also have a certain market share in some large multinational packaging companies but are not very large. In Southeast Asia, UV-curable inks are increasingly popular, but so far a large number of these inks are still dependent on imports. In the end, these strict environmental protection regulations will be implemented. When environmental regulations come into effect, ink manufacturers must consider environmental issues, whether produced in-house or indirectly in the country. At present, there are no strict environmental protection laws in China for inks, but just as in the Chinese paint industry, environmental protection regulations for inks will be introduced sooner or later. Non-volatile organic (VOC) inks and water-based inks have been tested in the minds of each ink manufacturer or in the laboratory, so that they can be put on the market quickly when environmental regulations are introduced.

In Malaysia, aqueous flexo inks are rapidly growing and replacing gravure inks, although gravure inks still dominate. In the Philippines, concerns about the environment and health issues have also prompted petroleum-based inks to be replaced by water-based inks. In China, the issue of environmental protection has also received widespread attention from printers.