# Organic pigments

Organic pigments give strong, durable colour to inks, paints and plastics; a 400 kt, roughly $5-7 billion niche where China dominates and India's Sudarshan is now a global top two.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/

Specialty chemicals · Coatings, adhesives & colourants · No. 85

- Product family
- Feedstock: Oil, gas or coal
- about 400 kt a year (2025)
- 8.0 t CO₂e per t
- HS 320417
 Specialty chemicals · Coatings, adhesives & colourants · Foundation · Matter

Bright blues and reds in car paint and packaging inks come from insoluble carbon pigments, some worth RMB 550,000 a tonne.

Chart: Illustration: Organic pigments

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Aromatic intermediates such as aniline and phthalic anhydride are built into azo or phthalocyanine molecules, then milled to particles of about 50-500 nm.

##### Three things to know

1. Paints and coatings take about 45% of organic pigments, and printing inks another 25%.
2. Phthalocyanine blue is made by heating phthalic anhydride, urea and a copper salt to about 200 C; copper is about 11% of it.
3. India's Sudarshan bought Germany's Heubach and lifted its world share to about 15% from 3.5%, but integration has been painful.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Aromatics**Benzene, toluene, xylene and naphthalene derivatives
2. 2 **Crude pigment**Azo coupling, or phthalic anhydride with copper
3. 3 **Conditioning**Milled and treated to set particle size
4. 4 **Dispersion**Mixed into paints, inks and plastics
5. 5 **Coloured goods**Car paint, packaging inks, toys, masterbatch
 Covered in [The chemical industry: what it makes and how it is organisedChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/chem-industry-map/)[Colour and protection: dyes, pigments, paints and coatingsChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/dyes-pigments-coatings/)[How a classic specialty chemical market works: the synthetic dye industryChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/how-a-specialty-market-works-dyes/)

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## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pigments/links/index.md)