The global printing market will return to growth, but the next five years will be challenging.
Based on data provided by The Outlook for Global Print Through to 2026, a newly released market research report by Smithers, The global print market will reach $781.5 billion in sales by 2022 (print production totals 42.71 trillion A4 sheets). Due to the severe impact of COVID-19 on the global printing market, this scale is still lower than the level in 2019 before the outbreak of Novel coronavirus epidemic.
Overview of global printing market growth by continent, 2016-2026
(In US $billion at constant 2020 exchange rates)
Global Print Market Outlook
The global printing market sales revenue will grow at an annual rate of 1.9% in the next five years, and the global printing market size will reach US $834.3 billion by 2026.
The major factors influencing the growth of the global printing market are the global packaging and label printing sector, as well as the developing country printing market. At the same time, the global print and commercial printing markets are stagnating or shrinking as the COVID-19 pandemic changes consumer behavior and the substitution effect of electronic products on paper printing accelerates.
It should be emphasized that the above growth in the global print market is a growth in sales, while the corresponding total print production may not recover to pre-pandemic levels. In 2021, the total volume of printing production in the global printing market was 41.90 trillion A4 sheets, still down 5.87 trillion A4 sheets from the total production in 2019.
Print Market Forecast in Asia
Asia remains the world's largest regional market. With some exceptions, Asia has withstood the impact of COVID-19 more effectively than Europe or North America. The print market in Asia will reach $325.6 billion in 2022, with a total production volume of about 17.83 trillion A4 sheets.
Asia is a diversified market. Demand for printed matter in Japan has matured and demand for printed matter is declining. The future outlook for printing markets in other Asian countries is different. China is already the largest printing market in the region, both in terms of market sales and total printing production, and will grow at an annual rate of 4.3% over the next five years. In addition, Vietnam and Indonesia will be the fastest growing printing markets in the world in terms of sales and print production. The printing markets of Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines also offer attractive prospects.
Global Printing Equipment Market Trends
Changes in the global printing market will also be reflected in the sales of printing equipment. Global sales of new printing equipment will hit a new high of $16.01 billion in 2022. This is partly due to the cumulative additive effect of demand as many printing companies put equipment investments on hold between 2020 and 2021. Sales of new presses and post-press equipment in Asia are expected to reach $6.18 billion in the same period.
Printing companies around the world will see a significant increase in demand for digital printing equipment (electrostatic imaging and inkjet) due to a reduction in printing orders. In 2022, digital printing equipment sales will account for 34.6% of total new printing equipment sales worldwide. In some areas of long-form order printing, traditional printing equipment will face the challenge of higher volume digital printing. The printing quality of inkjet printing is improving and is now comparable to offset printing quality in some applications.
Thanks to its wide use in packaging printing, flexo printing equipment is the only traditional printing equipment whose sales will continue to grow in the next five years. To remain competitive, many traditional printing equipment manufacturers are adding more automated features to their equipment, offering online post-press, inkjet printing units (combined printing concepts).
