In 2004, the demand for European print products slowly increased and the ink market was warming.
BASF is Europe's largest manufacturer of inks and pigments. Due to the appreciation of the euro, it hit its exports to the United States and Latin America and other countries and regions. Sun Chemicals shut down its packaging gravure ink factory in Watford, near London, in 2003, and began to increase production efficiency at other ink factories in the UK. Flint also made adjustments to its European subsidiary F1int-Schmidt.
According to the Sikhaba Group, it acquired Flint's security ink business in 2003 while Flint acquired Sikhbai's global thermoset and coldset ink business.
According to forecasts by the European Printing and Packaging Association, except for the packaging market, the market share of digital printing will increase from 4% to 5%, and in 2013 it will reach 14%. This provides an opportunity for the development of digital printing inks.
Source: Printing Technology