Confidence is on the rise and all regions and markets forecast higher investment in 2023 according to the first results from a survey of the print industry conducted by Drupa this spring.
The findings come from the 8th Global Trends online survey of over 500 senior decision makers on the part of print service providers and machine manufacturers/suppliers worldwide, conducted by Printfuture (UK) and Wissler and Partner (Switzerland) on behalf of Drupa. Full details will be published in the 8th Drupa Global Trends Report in September 2022, but initial results show an industry that is on average a little more confident for the future than when last surveyed in 2019, before the Covid pandemic.
Globally 18% more printers described their company’s economic condition as ‘good’ compared with those that reported it as ‘poor’. For suppliers the net positive balance was even stronger at 32%.
The packaging market is strongest, but commercial, publishing and functional markets all show signs of recovery in 2023. Regionally, confidence levels vary e.g. Asia and South America expect better trading in 2023 while Europe is downbeat given the Russia/Ukraine war and its consequences. Investment fell during the last two years, but printers and suppliers both reported strong plans for capital expenditure.
Analysis of print volume in 2022 by press type shows continuing decline in sheetfed offset among commercial printers. Flexo volumes continue to accelerate for packaging printers, while all markets reported increased volumes using digital toner cutsheet colour and all but publishing with digital inkjet rollfed colour.
Sabine Geldermann, director print technologies at Messe Dusseldorf, said: “Printers and suppliers know they must innovate to succeed in the longer term. The shocks of the last two years pegged back investment, but the survey indicates that the industry expects recovery to start in 2023. All regions and markets forecast higher investment in the coming year.”
