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INTERVIEW
DEVELOPING PRODUCTS FOR THE INDUSTRIAL COATINGS SEGMENT The company is developing products including raw materials such as radiation curing oligomers, polyesters, and polyurethane resins to further expand its chemical business
SURESH KALRA
MANAGING DIRECTOR HUBERGROUP INDIA AND HEAD OF RBU (REGIONAL BUSINESS UNIT) ASIA
What are the global trends in the printing solutions business in 2022 and its impact on India? Globally, the packaging market is growing in areas of rigid carton, folding carton, and flexible packaging. The market has rapidly moved towards sustainable packaging, and we can see growth in monolayer flexible laminates and paper as well as boards. Similar trends are visible in India. There has been a decline in the publication industry (newspapers, periodicals, and magazines) globally. In India, the publication market is expected to have minimal growth due to the rising literacy level and comparatively less penetration of digital/electronic media in smaller cities. What are the key milestones achieved by hubergroup India in FY 2021-22? Factors which will drive growth in India? hubergroup continues to focus on developing safe and sustainable products. For example: HYDRO-X Water Barrier Coating, which was launched in 2021 and received the IFCA Star Award in the category ‘Enviro Friendly Product’. The company has further invested in launching cobalt drier free, mineral oilfree, low migration low odour (MGA brand) products. In January 2022, hubergroup has, for instance, launched a series called MGA CONTACT, which is a sheet-fed offset ink for direct food contact. Government bodies are moving towards more stringent regulatory norms to be in line with global guidelines. We can foresee tolu-
ene being banned over time. This will lead to more good manufacturing practices and strict compliance. Last year, the continued Covid scenario led to global raw material shortages and disruptions in the supply chain. Thanks to its backward integration, hubergroup was able to manage its production well through its raw material production plant in India. hubergroup's manufacturing is spread across three production sites - Silvassa, Daman, and Vapi? What is the cumulative production capacity? hubergroup India combined production installed capacity at Vapi (two plants) is 207,000 metric tons per annum (MTPA), Silvassa is 92,800 MTPA and Daman is 25,750 MTPA. hubergroup India produces raw materials such as pigments, resins, and additives. Annual production capacities of raw materials and key customers in these segments? At Vapi, we produce raw materials such as resins (ketonic, polyamide, and offset resins), pigments (dry pigments and alkali blue flush & powder), concentrates and acrylates. These are both produced for the division hubergroup Print Solutions as well as sold to leading ink manufacturing companies (worldwide and regional). Factories have production capacity of 203,000 MTPA for printing inks, 71,050 MTPA for resins and varnishes, 46,500 MTPA for pigments and flush colours, and Press Chemicals 5,000 MTPA.
