<< Back

Gravure Printing Ink Price Difference: White Ink VS Black Ink VS Color Ink

It is a common fact in the gravure printing industry that white ink is the most expensive, followed by black ink, while regular color inks are the cheapest. Many printing factories always mention that white ink has the highest price among all printing inks.
 
Price ranking of gravure inks (from highest to lowest price)
 
1. White ink
2. Black ink
3. Regular color ink (red, yellow, blue and other common colors)
 
Reasons why white ink is the most expensive
 
1. High cost of core pigment
The main raw material of white ink is titanium dioxide. Its market price is much higher than carbon black and organic color pigments used for other inks. High-grade titanium dioxide for printing further pushes up the material cost.

2. High coverage requirement & large consumption
White ink needs strong hiding power to cover dark backgrounds or transparent film materials. In actual printing production, the consumption of white ink is usually 2 to 3 times that of black ink, leading to higher comprehensive use cost.

3. Complex formula and production process
Titanium dioxide has a high specific gravity and is easy to precipitate. It requires more additives and professional dispersion processing during production. Environment-friendly low-VOC white ink adopts more sophisticated formulas, which also increases the manufacturing cost.
 
Why black ink is more expensive than regular color ink
 
Black ink uses high-pigment carbon black raw materials, which are more costly than ordinary organic color pigments. To achieve high blackness and weather resistance, premium carbon black materials are required. Meanwhile, black ink is widely used for text and solid background printing with large usage volume, and stable anti-flocculation formula design also raises its price.
 
Why regular color inks are low-priced
 
Common color inks adopt affordable organic pigments with strong tinting strength, so the usage amount per printing area is small. In addition, conventional color inks are mass-produced in large batches in the industry, which greatly reduces production and procurement costs.

Any more questions, please feel free to contact Itchen Packaging team, your professional flexible packaging manufacturing and solutions experts.