1. Current situation of China's ink industry

Ink is a kind of viscous colloidal fluid specially used for printing, which is composed of binders, pigments and additives. According to different application scenarios, ink materials can be roughly divided into printing industry ink and electronic industry ink. Among them, according to the printing method, printing ink is subdivided into gravure printing ink, offset printing ink, flexographic printing ink, screen printing ink and special ink, and electronic ink is subdivided into PCB ink Special functional ink.

2. Ink industry chain

The upstream of the industrial chain is mainly composed of petrochemical raw materials (crude oil, synthetic resin, rosin). Among them, the binders mainly composed of crude oil and synthetic resin account for about 80% of the total raw materials.

The middle reaches of the industrial chain are mainly the major ink manufacturers, typically represented by Hanghua, Tianlong ink, peony ink, etc.

The downstream of the industrial chain directly reaches the printing industry and the electronic industry enterprises, among which, the typical representatives of the printing industry enterprises are Yutong Technology, Jinjia Group, etc., and the typical representatives of the electronic industry enterprises are Jesse Technology and Xingsen Technology, etc.

3. Market scale of ink industry

According to relevant data, China's ink industry as a whole showed a stable growth trend from 2016 to 2020, with the market size growing from 33.16 billion yuan to 55.35 billion yuan, with an annual compound growth rate of 10.8%. It is estimated that the industry's market size will grow from 55.35 billion yuan to 90.76 billion yuan in 2020 to 2025, with an annual compound growth rate of 8.6%.

According to the data forecast, in the future, the packaging printing ink will account for the largest proportion of the market. The packaging printing ink will grow from 21.57 billion yuan to 50.3 billion yuan in 2016-2025. With the development of science and technology, people's paper reading habits have decreased. In the future, the growth rate of publishing and printing ink will gradually slow down, and the growth rate of PCB ink demand will grow rapidly.

4. Relevant policies of ink industry

2020-09 Notice of the State Press and Publication Administration on the Application of Key Laboratory of Science, Technology and Standards in Publishing Industry

Key points of policy: Following the law of integrated development of publishing, China actively promotes the construction of specialized laboratories and interdisciplinary comprehensive laboratories in all links of the publishing industry chain, including materials, equipment, processes and technologies of green printing; New flexible printing materials, photosensitive ink and other new printing materials, equipment, processes and technologies. The laboratory should pay attention to the tracking, tackling and application research of common key technologies, and promote the innovation of publishing contents, forms, methods and means.

2018-07 Technical Requirements for Environmental Labeling Products Gravure Printing Ink and Flexographic Printing Ink issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment

Policy key points: effectively use and save resources, reduce the impact of gravure printing ink and flexographic printing ink on the environment and human health in the process of production, use and disposal, improve environmental quality, and promote the production and use of low toxic and low volatile products.

2018-06 The State Council's Three Year Action Plan for Blue Sky Defense

Key points of policy: Formulate a comprehensive remediation plan for key VOCs emission industries such as petrochemical industry, chemical industry, industrial coating, packaging and printing, and oil storage, transportation and marketing, issue leakage detection and repair standards, and prepare a technical guide for VOCs governance. The construction, production and use of solvent based coatings, inks, adhesives and other projects with high VOCs content are prohibited in key areas; By the end of 2019, the formulation of mandatory national standards for VOCs content limits of coatings, inks and other products will be completed.

2017-09 "13th Five Year Plan" Volatile Organic Pollution Prevention and Control Work Plan issued by 6 departments including the Ministry of Environmental Protection

Key policy points: Deeply promote the comprehensive management of VOCs in the packaging and printing industry, and realize the whole process control of VOCs in the packaging and printing industry. We will vigorously promote the use of water-based, soybean based, energy curing and other low (no) VOCs content inks. For plastic flexible packaging, paper product packaging, etc., we will promote the use of flexographic printing and other printing processes with low (no) VOCs emissions. In the field of plastic flexible packaging, promote the application of solvent-free, water-based adhesive and other environmentally friendly composite technologies.

2017-06 Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries (Revised in 2017) issued by the National Development and Reform Commission

Key points of the policy: "production of environment-friendly printing ink and environment-friendly aromatic oil" is listed as encouraged, and "production of high-performance coatings, high solids, solvent-free coatings, water-based industrial coatings and supporting water-based resins" is listed as encouraged industries for foreign investment.

2016-07 MIIT Notice on Action Plan for Volatile Organic Compounds Reduction in Key Industries

Key points of policy: By 2018, VOCs emissions from industrial industries will be reduced by more than 3.3 million tons compared with 2015, and the use of solvents and additives such as benzene, toluene, xylene, dimethylformamide (DMF) will be reduced by more than 20%. The proportion of green pesticide preparations, coatings, inks, adhesives and tire products with low (no) VOCs will reach 70%, 60%, 70%, 85% and 40% respectively.

5. Development Trend of Ink Industry

(1) In the context of China's constant proposal to reduce VOCs, green ink will become the mainstream of industry development. At present, the fourth generation ink has achieved a breakthrough in low VOCs emissions, and the environmental protection standard system of China's ink industry has been initially established.

(2) With the continuous development of information technology, the rapid development of consumer electronics and communication industry has driven the production demand of PCB. As an important raw material of PCB, the demand for PCB ink will continue to increase.

Data source: Toubao: Overview of China's Ink Industry in 2021 (31 pages). pdf