Cold foiling has traditionally been centred on the narrow-web label market, but recently it has seen growth in sheetfed markets.

The new product, the TS grade, is ideal for producing multi-coloured metallic effects inline, API said. The company believes it is well-suited for magazine covers, packaging and labels.

API has worked alongside major offset press manufacturers, including Heidelberg and Manroland, in developing its new foil. It has also consulted with cold foiling module manufacturers, adhesive producers and printers.

Using the foil, a full range of printing capabilities can be achieved, including fine detail lines and screens and large area coverage.

Richard Fowler, market support manager at API Foils, said: "The concept of sheetfed cold foiling has been around for some time, but more recently interest seems to have grown, as evident at Drupa, where there were a number of on-press demonstrations.

"It's great to see the new TS foil running successfully on commercial print jobs, and the development of a foil for UV printing systems should expand the use of cold foiling still further."

TS is currently being used in Italy, the US and with at least one company in the UK, although the official launch of the product will take place this month.

The sheetfed cold foil transfer process uses the first two units of an offset press. In the first unit an adhesive is printed on the design requiring a metallic effect, in the second printing unit, the cold foil is pressed onto this adhesive by the blanket cylinder, creating a metallic design.