Japan's printing ink production and sales fell to a new low in 2011

Business News Agency March 8th Statistics from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry show that Japan's printing ink production exceeded 400,000 tons as early as in 1995, and reached 455,000 tons in 2006, setting a record for the highest output in history. After 2007, production has decreased and it has decreased to less than 400,000 tons since 2009. In 2009 and 2010, Japan's printing ink production was 388,000 tons and 390,000 tons, respectively. In 2011, the printing ink output and sales volume continued to decline. Both were lower than the year of 2009 when the financial crisis was severe and were the lowest in history.

In the first half of 2011, Japan's printing ink production only increased by 0.6% and 5.1% respectively in January and May compared with the same period of last year, and the output decreased in the other four months. In particular, the output of Japan in March was significantly lower than that in March 2010. 10.9%. In the first quarter of 2011, the total output was 89,400 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 3.9%; in the second quarter, it was 96,500 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 0.5%; the total output in the first half of the year was 196,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 2.1%; July third quarter In September, the output decreased by 8.8% and 7.8% from the same period of last year and 5.6% in August. The total output in the third quarter was 89,000 tons, which was a 7.5% year-on-year decrease. In October and November of the fourth quarter, The year-on-year reductions in December and December were 7.3%, 4.4% and 6.6%, respectively. The total output was 114,000 tons, a decrease of 5.1% from the same period last year. In 2011, the total output of printing ink in Japan was 373,000 tons, which was 4.3% lower than the 390,000 tons in 2010 and a 3.7% reduction from the 388,000 tons in 2009.

The decrease in sales of printing inks is smaller. In the first half of 2011, the total sales of printing ink was 212,100 tons, which was only 0.2% lower than the 215,000 tons in the first half of 2010. The decrease in sales volume in the second half of the year increased. In the third quarter, the sales volume was 107,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%, and the fourth quarter was 114,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 4.2%. The total sales volume for the year was 433 thousand tons. The 444,000 tons in 2010 decreased by 2.4%, which was also less than the 437,000 tons in 2009.

According to statistics from the Japan Printing Ink Industry Federation, Japan's offset printing ink production in 2011 was 129,700 tons, sales volume was 145,700,000 tons, and sales volume was 90.97 billion yen, both lower than in 2010. Production and sales volume went back to At the 1999 level, sales fell back to the 1989 level. Compared with 2009, which had the worst production and sales in recent years, production fell by 8,000 tons, sales fell by 7,000 tons, and sales fell by 5.5 billion yen. The average selling price of offset printing ink per tonne in 2011 was 624,000 yen, which was far lower than the 918,000 yen in 1989. In contrast, the production and sales of gravure inks are better. Compared with 2009, Japan's gravure ink output in 2011 was 1,000 tons higher, sales volume was 12,000 tons higher, and sales were 10 billion yen higher. The average selling price of gravure ink per ton was 520,000 yen in 2011, which was higher than the 465,000 yen in 1989.

The lack of economic growth, the printing market continued to shrink, the Japanese earthquake was caused by the decline in Japan's ink production and sales. For Japanese printing ink manufacturers, the rising price of ink raw materials is also a big problem. In 2011, most of the ink production materials in Japan rose. For example, soybean oil prices rose by 27% compared with 2010, linseed oil rose by 21%, Chinese rosin resin rose by 17%, and modified phenolic resin rose by 26%. The rise in the price of ink production raw materials will not only inevitably affect ink manufacturers, but will also have an adverse effect on printing companies.