Printing Process Inputs -- Consumables: A Mixed Bag

With the price of a barrel of oil exceeding $140 at one point in 2008, but dropping to under $40 by the end of the year, it’s anyone’s guess what the price range will be in 2009. Israel launching a new campaign against Hamas only added to the uncertainty.

Petro Products Still Tops

One thing that doesn’t seem to be in the offing for inks is any significant shift away from petroleum-derived raw materials for cost, supply or sustainability reasons. The requirements of printing processes, heatset web offset in particular, work against replacing petroleum as a materials source, explains George Fuchs, NAPIM’s manager of environmental affairs and information systems. He notes that the American Soybean Association (ASA) even recognized that fact by stipulating a heatset ink could be designated as soy ink with only 7 percent soybean oil content.