Sun Chemical, an ink and chemical manufacturer for several different areas, especially packaging, met with visitors at the SIGN Istanbul 2024 on October 31 and November 3. The global player, which has deep-rooted ties to the Turkish market and operates with 160 factories in 83 countries, attracted the attention of visitors with the products and samples they exhibited throughout the event. On the 3rd day, we interviewed Sun Chemical Business Development Manager Çağlayan Erakman and talked about the details regarding the exhibition and the company’s recent activities.
Erakman said that they exhibited both product portfolios, namely digital advertising and textile, at SIGN Istanbul 2024; “In addition to our reactive and sublimation inks for textile, our water-based inks for corrugated cardboards for the developing packaging industry are also on display at our booth. In the advertising segment, we also offer our UV, solvent and eco-solvent inks.” He stated that they also exhibited samples at their booth, and said that textiles printed with fluorescent inks in particular attracted considerable attention throughout the event. He added that fluorescent colours stood out in jersey prints this year and that they also recorded an increase in the sales figures of these products. He also noted that they presented their inks with their packages at SIGN Istanbul 2024 upon demand at previous editions.
“SIGN Istanbul 2024 pleased us with its diversity of visitors”
Çağlayan Erakman said that they have welcomed many visitors from abroad, and relayed that in addition to Russia, Middle Eastern countries such as Northern Iraq and Lebanon are the most common. He stated that visitors from different markets tend to focus on almost the same product portfolio: “Since SIGN Istanbul is a signage exhibition, our meetings are more intense in terms of demands in this area. We had also received demands from the textile segment at the previous edition. However, this year, with the effect of hosting our visitors interested in textiles at the ITM, SIGN Istanbul lives up to its name and passes as a complete signage event for us. In general, it is a very successful exhibition in terms of both the variety of visitors and the meetings we have held.” He added that they have also encountered a very serious demand for screen printing this year.
Drawing attention to the fact that the advertising industry is shifting from eco-solvent inks to UV inks, he noted that they focused on UV inks at the event by emphasising the advantages they offer. “UV inks can be used in different areas other than advertising. UV application can be applied to several different materials from wood to glass. Of course, there is a stagnation due to the markets this year, but I can say that there is a lot of interest in UV inks,” he continued.
Sun Chemical; Global as well as local, local as well as global
Çağlayan Erakman emphasized that they have a deep-rooted history and experience of over 200 years and that they are the first producer of UV ink in the world, saying that Sun Chemical is also the first in the world among ink producers in terms of turnover and sales. “Sun Chemical is a company that not only imports products from abroad but also manufactures in its 3 factories in Türkiye,” he noted and shared the information that most of the inks sold in Türkiye are produced here and even some of the Sun Chemical inks sold in Europe come from factories in Türkiye. In this sense, he emphasized that they are as local as they are global and as global as they are local, and continued: “We have been operating in Türkiye since 1987. Almost all of our water-based and solvent-based inks for packaging are produced here. UV inks and metal packaging inks, which we classify as ‘special product’ or ‘advanced material’, are produced in a specific factory located abroad as per our company policy and distributed from there.”
He also underlined that Sun Chemical is a chemical manufacturer in addition to being an ink manufacturer and that it produces its own pigments, and that they supply pigments to ink manufacturers. In this context, he explained that the acquisition of BASF in 2021 was a strategic decision to expand its application areas.
“Our sustainability department is always at work for the carbon zero target”
Sun Chemical recently published its sustainability report and announced that it has achieved approximately 86% of its goal of halving carbon emissions for 2030. This also means that they are getting closer to their 2050 carbon neutrality goal. While setting realistic goals is of vital importance in the face of the climate crisis that threatens the entire ecosystem, Çağlayan Erakman explained the secret of the company’s success in this regard with the following words: “Sun Chemical has a separate department for sustainability, and our team here only works on this issue. Our sustainability department is always on the job for the carbon zero goal. The fact that the issue of sustainability is always on the agenda at our global headquarters and the planned work we do in this area, as well as our ability to adapt to new legislation very quickly, play a key role in achieving our goals.”