New Ink Plant for China

Flint Ink, Ann Arbor, Mich., as part of a two-stage agreement, plans to begin building a plant in Beijing, China late this year to manufacture news inks and to blend heatset inks.

The first part of the pact, which is subject to government approval, creates a joint venture with Graphic-Tech, Flint Ink's long-time distributor in Hong Kong and China. In the second stage, the joint-venture holding company becomes a majority partner with four major Beijing newspapers to establish Flint Ink (Beijing) Printing Ink Company Ltd.

Says Flint, China's economy is growing at 7.4%, the printing industry even faster–-10% annually for the past three years.

The company, called the world's largest privately owned printing ink maker, operates 100 facilities worldwide, employs 5,000 people, and posted sales of $1.6 billion in the last fiscal year.