DIC Group to build liquid inks for packaging facility in Indonesia

DIC Corporation has announced that Jakarta-based wholly owned subsidiary PT DIC Graphics will build a new blending facility for liquid inks for food and beverage packaging in Surabaya, Indonesia. The company will move operations from its existing plant, located on the outskirts of Surabaya, which has become too small as a consequence of increases in production volume.

The new facility, investment in which is estimated at around JP¥600M, is scheduled to begin operating in May 2016, will approximately double the company’s production capacity.

As a key production base for printing inks, PT DIC Graphics has a main production facility in Jakarta, which manufactures inks from raw materials and its blending facility in Surabaya, which transforms these inks into commercial products. Thanks to efforts to bolster its share of the Indonesian market, which resulted in the expansion of its sales volume, the company has had to contend with a shortage of both production capacity and storage space. Located in the Ngoro Industrial Park, the new facility will have a floor space around three times that of the company’s existing Surabaya facility.

According to DIC estimates, demand for liquid inks for packaging, approximately 80,000t in 2015, is likely to surpass 120,000t in 2024.

Under its current medium-term management plan, the DIC Group is working to reinforce the earnings foundation of its printing inks by shifting its focus from inks for publishing to those for packaging applications and by reinforcing its production configuration in Asia. It will continue promoting efforts to strengthen its capabilities in the area of printing inks for packaging with the aim of increasing its global market share to 30%, from 25% at present, by 2020.