The low-migration web offset inks have been tested in extensive field trials with well-known brand owners, printers and paper manufacturers.
Hubergroup Print Solutions has launched coldset and heatset inks for food-compliant paper packaging, benefiting web offset printers that can take advantage of the increasing demand for paper packaging in the food sector due to its good recyclable factor.
While printers can build up another mainstay, the food industry has a new opportunity to design sustainable paper packaging in a colorful and creative way. The mineral oil-free and low-migration ink series MGA Food News and MGA Evolution are initially available in Europe and Asia.
Until now, low-migration offset inks were only used in sheetfed printing. A new binder developed by Hubergroup has paved the way for this innovation in web offset printing. Thomas Stumpf, Director Web Offset at hubergroup, explains: “With the help of a special binder and the careful selection of raw materials as well as production methods, we have succeeded in developing the first low-migration and low-odor web offset inks. As safety and sustainability are our top priorities, we worked closely with our sheetfed offset experts who have been developing inks for food packaging for many years.” In addition to thorough laboratory work, Hubergroup has carried out extensive practical tests in cooperation with well-known brand owners, printers, and the special paper manufacturer Drewsen.
With these new printing inks, it is possible for the first time to produce food-compliant paper packaging in large quantities using four-color printing in web offset. Food manufacturers can thus make their packaging more colorful, for example, by reproducing their products true-to-life on it. Seasonally or regionally changing designs are also possible and affordable even in small quantities, allowing large and small retailers to become even more creative with their packaging.
Both the coldset series MGA Food News and the heatset series MGA Evolution are ideal for printing on packaging of baked goods, fast food such as burgers or wraps, and products from the deli counter, but also for all other paper packaging in the food sector. Printers can use the new ink series on all common coldset or heatset machines and are supported by the Hubergroup service team during implementation.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
