Pigments provide the color for the printed products that are around us. Whether they are colors, blacks or whites, colorants are a critical part of the ink process. It is a sizable market: according to Nikhil Pampatwar, head – research & intelligence at Verified Market Research (VMR), the size of the global organic pigments market was $2.42 billion in 2021, and he is expecting growth at a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period of 2022-2030, reaching a value of $3.85 billion.

In addition, Pampatwar places the global inorganic pigments market at $22.01 billion in 2021, with an expected CAGR of 5.38% during the forecast period of 2022-2030, reaching a value of $35.28 billion. He reported the global specialty pigments market stands at $22.91 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period of 2022-2030, reaching a value of $35.13 billion.

VMR’s Pampatwar reports that the pigment industry, especially the organic pigment industry, has expanded significantly with the advances in inks, and will grow at a high pace.

“However, the size of the organic, inorganic, and specialty pigment markets varies among different applications of such pigments and consumer preferences as well,” Pampatwar added. “The majority of the organic pigments used in inks are azo pigments (dia-azo,mono-azo, hydroxybenzimidazole, condensation of azo), precipitates pigment (alkaline and acidic precipitates), and phthalocyanine pigments. These pigments come in all common shades, including pigments blue and green. Of the components necessary to make ink, pigments make up 50% of the total. It is crucial to utilize top-notch pigments to create rich, brilliant, and dependable ink for long-term use as that these can change the appearance of anything.”

Consolidation has been a key factor in the pigment industry, which has seen two huge mergers in recent years as DIC Corporation and Sun Chemical acquired BASF Color+Effects, and Heubach purchased Clariant’s pigment division.

“Acquisitions and consolidation amongst smaller and major pigments players have been characteristic of the past years,” said Suzana Rupcic, head of global segment management merchant inks, color materials, Sun Chemical. “Since the worldwide outbreak of COVID, the pigment market has experienced many of the same challenges as other sectors over the past couple of years, including unforeseen demand changes, supply chain interruptions and – since this year – rising inflation.”

Rupcic pointed out that after slowly recovering from the pandemic, the pigment market continues to operate under cost pressure, which impacts the entire printing value chain.

“Nonetheless, despite the recent challenges, a general stabilization of raw material supply availability can be observed,” Rupcic added. “Like for other industries, the upcoming developments on inflation and recession will determine growth rates in 2023 and onwards. In general, we anticipate that the global pigments market will grow at least at GDP rate.”

As for growth markets, packaging continues to be a bright spot for the ink industry.

“The packaging market continues to be an area of consistent growth for Heubach and remains a key focus area of our company for the future,” said Mike Rester, market segment manager, printing at Heubach Group.

“The market is asking for more sustainable products, especially in the package printing sector, where consumers´ awareness for sustainability has increased and has led ink makers to address these requests,” said Rupcic. “Ink manufacturers are increasingly focusing on more sustainable inks for packaging and also regulatory compliant inks with low-odor and without migratory substances. We’re also seeing increased interest in pigments for digital inkjet printing.”

FUJIFILM Ink Solutions Group provides inkjet inks to OEMs and pigment dispersions to other ink formulators. Rachel Li, segment marketing manager for FUJIFILM Ink Solutions Group, observed that growth in new inkjet markets is driving demand for aqueous inkjet pigment dispersions.

“Inkjet is particularly suited to the current volatile market situation and the changing demands that is creating on print production: Cost efficient short runs, reducing waste to reduce cost, centralized to localized print production to reduce logistical risk and shorten lead times, JIT (just in time) manufacturing, personalization of goods through mass customization, sustainable production through waste and energy reduction and supply chain efficiency,” Li noted.

“Ink chemistry is one of the enabling factors in making inkjet suitable for new applications and the pigment dispersion technology is the critical core component of the ink formulations,” added Li. “We believe the demand for inkjet will continue to increase and Fujifilm is committed to supplying technology to drive that growth.”

On the specialty pigment side, Darren Bianchi, president of Brilliant Color, reported that demand for fluorescent pigments has been solid. He added that there is a strong trend towards brighter, more striking colors in packaging, and fluorescents are the best choice for this.

“There were still some supply chain issues in the first part of the year, but our policy of holding inventory allowed us to meet customer demand,” Bianchi added. “We have successfully navigated the gyrations of the fluorescent pigment market; it remains to be seen if China’s easing of their strict ‘zero COVID’ policy will cause renewed supply chain issues for raw materials.”

“Effect pigments have mirrored the printing industry and overall economy, where we have experienced volatility in demand, increased regulatory and environmental pressures, supply chain issues, labor challenges and escalating costs,” said Neil Hersh, head of marketing and technical services for Eckart America Corporation. “The availability of effect pigments has been fairly stable, while cost pressures have persisted.”

Carlos Hernandez, marketing manager, Coatings & Printing Systems Americas for Orion Engineered Carbons, reported that the demand for carbon black has grown steadily in the last couple of years in almost every specialty and rubber application.

“In general, we see organic growth in liquid packaging,” Hernandez said. “We also see interesting potential in inkjet markets where we are leaders, offering specific properties and great performance in gas blacks. We sell our family of NIPEX grades and other products specifically to this market to help ink manufacturers comply with the required industry regulations.”

Phillip Myles of Colourscapes said that the pigment industry has seen many supply disruptions in the last years.

“The COVID period changed consumption dynamics,” Myles continued. “Shipping container shortages resulted in dramatic increase in shipping costs, followed by a dramatic increase in chemical costs from Asia, including rising oil prices, all of which increased pigment prices.

Now, in the latter half of 2022, we have seen a substantial correction, demand is soft, availability is good, so there came a large and sudden reduction in shipping and chemical costs from Asia. With soft demand for pigments expected to continue into 2023, soft pricing will also.”

Tim Polgar, sales manager for Liberty Specialty Chemicals Inc., said that over the past several years, the pigment market fared rather well.

“We experienced nice overall growth in both the water-based and solvent-based ink markets,” Polgar noted. “The year 2020 proved to be stable in the first half for supply and stable prices. The second half of 2020 proved to be somewhat of a challenge with increasing prices of basic intermediates, raw materials, packaging and freight costs.

“The year 2021 was a huge challenge with COVID affecting all business globally,” Polgar added. “Customers were worried about getting enough pigment to supply their plants and their customers’ requirements, prices were escalating to no end, container costs and shipping cost were a nightmare. So, what did customers do? They placed orders over and above their normal levels just to ensure they had enough pigments so they could fill their customers’ requirements. Thus, this was a strong year for sales. 2022 proved to be a year when business was slightly up due to customers having to work off of their large inventories due to over buying in 2021. We see in 2023 prices to somewhat stabilize but again we see hints of future price increases.”

“The pigment market took off as COVID restrictions started reducing, and the industry saw very good growth in FY 22,” said Pravin Chaudhary of Pidilite. “Unfortunately, momentum could not be carried through current year. Factors like geopolitical disturbance, high inflation and tightening of monetary policies by many governments’ impacted consumer sentiments. Pigment which caters to paint, Ink and plastic segments saw high head winds from all industries. While we believe the short term looks challenging, long term is still optimistic. Consolidation seen over last year augurs well for relatively new players to offer viable alternative to global customers.”

Raw Material Availability

As for raw materials for pigments, Pampatwar reported that the market for raw materials has been unpredictable in recent years.

“Due to a lack of supply and rising pricing, several essential substances are becoming harder to find,” added Pampatwar. “Ink manufacturers as well as the petrochemical and oleochemical sectors are experiencing pricing instability as a result of shifting trends in the sourcing of raw materials and the growing impact of China on the supply chains in the printing industry.

“Numerous unforeseen incidents that have occurred in the market have further restricted supplies and aggravated an already unstable situation,” he added. “Printing ink and coating manufacturers are increasingly impacted by fierce competition for materials and resources as prices rise and availability becomes scarcer. However, in 2022, the trend is improving.”

Pigment suppliers also reported that raw materials remain a concern. Rester said that over the past several years, the industry has experienced unprecedented shortages and numerous delays in obtaining many of the key raw materials needed to
produce pigments.

“While the overall global supply situation has improved during 2022, certain challenges remain which we continue to manage to meet the needs of our customers,” Rester added. “Energy costs in Europe continue to be very volatile and are an ongoing concern moving into 2023.”

“Some specialty grades were tight in supply, but at Orion Engineered Carbons we have been preparing our plants for these challenges by making capital expenditures to improve our supply position and respond well to the market,” Hernandez said.

“Over the past few years, chemical procurement and supply chains have been extremely challenging due to capacity constraints and logistic delays,” Li noted. “This has caused availability issues and strong price increases. Some key products that been affected are pigments, solvents, photoinitiators, and resins. While the situation is reported to be plateauing, we do see improvements in supply availability coming from the Asia Pacific region, but the overall picture remains fragile. However, due to the situation in Ukraine, European supply chains remain very tight and highly challenging while being subjected to continued
inflationary pressures.”