With consumers paying increasing attention to the effects of paint and printing ink products on human health and the environment, producers need to develop more eco-friendly products, a seminar heard in HCM City yesterday.

Speaking at the seminar on Viet Nam paint and printing industry towards making safe and environmentally friendly products, Nguyen Thi Lac Huyen, chairwoman of the Viet Nam Paint and Printing Ink Association, said the industry has been growing at 10 per cent a year on average and now sales top over US$1 billion annually.

The products not only meet domestic demand but are also increasingly exported, she said.

Vu Thi Huong of the Chemical Agency’s Vietnamese Centre for Emergency Response, said, “The average paint output per capita in Viet Nam is still low; so the industry’s growth opportunity is still very large.”

The printing ink segment is expected to grow along with the consumer goods sector and exports, she said.

Firms in the industry have constantly improved their technologies and developed high-tech inks such as nano ink and grafted gravure ink, she said.

Nguyen Chi Thanh, head of chemical industry development division at the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Chemical Agency, said many countries have regulations limiting the content of harmful chemicals in paints and printing ink products.

Many new technologies for producing environment-friendly products have been introduced, he added.

Duong Thi Thuy Huong, deputy director of the Dong Nam A Paint Company, said: “With increasing incomes, consumers tend to pay more attention to the safety of the products they use, and paint and printing inks are no exception.”

Thanh said in the context of globalisation and the fourth industrial revolution enterprises have to be relentlessly innovative in terms of technology and products.

The 2020 Coatings Expo Vietnam to be held in HCM City would be an ideal opportunity for firms to learn about the latest trends and demands in the market and enhance co-operation with their local and foreign counterparts, he said.

To be held from June 17 to 19 next year at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre, the seventh international exhibition and conference on the coatings and printing ink industry is expected to attract 150 local and international exhibitors.

Organised by the Minh Vi Exhibition and Advertisement Services Co., Ltd and the China National Chemical Information Centre, the event is expected to welcome over 3,500 trade visitors. — VNS