Pigments Price Trend and Forecast

Regional Price Overview

Get the latest insights on price movement and trend analysis of Pigments in different regions across the world (Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa).

Pigments Price Trend for the Second Half of 2023

Pigment prices were found to be oscillating throughout the last six months of 2023.  The market began its journey on a little softer note as both weakening upstream and downstream dynamics put downward pressure on the pigments price trend.

Pigments Price Chart

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During the summer and monsoon months, downstream industrial demands from construction, paints, adhesive, and other fabric and packaging sectors dwelled at the lower levels. Even though, a surge in the energy and fuel prices during the early months of H2’23 put extra upstream pressure on the pricing outlook, the humble demands compensated for that.

In the fourth quarter, the demands saw some marginal increases as the holiday and festive seasons approached, however, the manufacturing costs tumbled during this time. Overall, the pigment market remained consolidated as the price trend maintained buoyancy throughout the said period.

Analyst Insight

According to Procurement Resource, similar fluctuations are anticipated in the pigment price trend going forward as well; not much change is anticipated in the current price trajectory.

Pigments Price Trend for First Half of 2023

The price trend of pigments faced several challenges in the first two quarters of 2023. The major cause of this struggling market dynamics of pigments was the high rates of global inflation, the negative impact of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crises, and high volatility in the worldwide economic conditions.

However, improving market activities after a long period of COVID restrictions, the positive movement of packaging and printing industries, demand for sustainable inks, and the rise in inquiries for digital inkjet printing supported the growth of the price trend of pigments.

Globally, it was observed that the disruptions in the supply chains in the initial months of the year, strict regulations, environmental concerns over the production of pigments, lower availability of skilled labor, and fluctuating consumer confidence resulted in a rise in oscillations in the price trend of pigments.

Analyst Insight

According to Procurement Resource, the price trend of Pigments is expected to showcase a mixed trajectory as the demand from end-user industries is challenged by adverse market conditions, slow recovery of downstream industries, and rising environmental constraints.

Pigments Price Trend for the Second Half of 2022

Asia Pacific

The prices for pigments, especially carbon black dyes, saw a steady rise in the prices supported by strong downstream demand from the tire and automotive industries and rising raw material costs during the third quarter. Even in the fourth quarter, the prices rose significantly. Strong market sentiments ruled the market for the whole quarter, but the market was primarily the demand skewed.

Europe

The European markets witnessed a major surge in the pigments market due to high demand from South Korea and the USA. The Russia-Ukraine war put an end to Russian shipments to European countries and thus the region shifted towards South Korea and the USA to meet its domestic demands. This import change further raised the prices of the commodity. The supply chains were further hampered by berth delays, vessel bunching, and congestion in the number of German ports that declined the stock of pigments in the market which led to the incline in prices during the third quarter. The fourth quarter, however, witnessed a slight decline in the prices as the demand dropped and the energy prices fell in the region.

North America

The market for pigments especially carbon black remained unstable in the third quarter due to persistent production barriers and an incline in demand, raising the prices of the commodity. The sharp increase in oil and raw material prices forced the manufacturers to increase the prices. The growing feedstock costs, operational costs, and fresh investments required to guarantee a constant supply of the product in the market all contributed to the hike in prices.

Analyst Insight

The prices of Pigments are likely to stabilize in the coming months given the current market dynamics. Though the demand from the downstream industries is improving, however no significant jump in the prices will be seen.

Pigments Price Trend For the First Half of 2022

The acute energy crisis which unfolded as one of the direct consequences of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine geopolitical conflict caused double-digit inflation in the fragile economies still dealing with the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic. The surging crude oil prices, complicated logistics, and labour shortages raised the operating costs of pigment manufacturers.

LANXESS-one of the leading global chemical giants raised the prices of iron oxide pigments by 400 Euro/MT from the Germany site and around 200 Euro/MT hike for the Porto Feliz site in Brazil.

The manufacturers are not able to pass the raised production costs to the consumers as the demand is already eroding in the consumer market; any further price hike will lead to demand destruction negatively impacting the profit margins of manufacturers. In the US, the Producer Price Index for organic synthetic pigments went from 175.047 in January to 184.213 in June 2022.

Procurement Resource provides latest prices of Pigments. Each price database is tied to a user-friendly graphing tool dating back to 2014, which provides a range of functionalities: configuration of price series over user defined time period; comparison of product movements across countries; customisation of price currencies and unit; extraction of price data as excel files to be used offline.