The products, for Canon, Epson, HP, Mimaki, Mutoh and Roland, will be presented at printing technology and publishing trade show IPEX in Birmingham, UK, from 14 to 25 May.
UTec will offer a wide assortment of dye-based and pigmented aqueous ink sets for machines with either thermal or piezo print heads as well as compatible cartridges with newly formulated eco-solvent inks. The firm plans to offer UV-curable inks in the near future.
UTec’s General Manager Iris Ngo said: “We are very excited to offer our distributors supplies for wide-format inkjet printers. The market is well established and there is a consistently strong demand for wide-format inks for the production of signage along with other print-for-pay applications.
“The savings our new line of cartridges will provide will give commercial shops some much needed margin relief. The cost savings our distributors can offer commercial shops on wide-format consumables are significant and those savings go straight to the shop owner’s bottom line.”
By the end of the year, UTec will enter the UV market, which it says is currently experiencing “robust growth”. InfoTrends recently released data projecting the worldwide market for UV-curable inkjet hardware and supplies will grow at a compound annual rate of nearly 16 percent from $1.1 billion in 2008 to $2.33 billion by 2013.
Ngo added: “Considering a healthy portion of that $2-billion-plus total will be spent on inks, the UV-curable ink market represents a huge opportunity for UTec. Let’s face it, high quality, non-OEM cartridges with UV inks has been virtually non-existent. With our products, we will change all that.