UV printing is gaining popularity due to durability and flexibility, allowing users to create more applications with variety of medias and substrates, according to the latest IDC Worldwide Industrial Printer Tracker. Meanwhile, Covid lockdowns saw China’s annual shipments of large format printers plunge by almost 50% in 2022 - a year of "uncertainty" for the global large format graphics market.
According to IDC Worldwide Industrial Printer Tracker, a total of 50.1 thousand units of large format graphics printer was shipped in 2022 for Asia/Pacific excluding Japan, with a sequential decline of 13.5% and an annual decline of 34.8%.
“Notably, China’s annual shipment plummeted by 47.9% to 31.7 thousand units, while the rest of the region had experienced a healthy growth at 14.6% in 2022,” IDC said.
“The large format graphics market, like many other industries, was largely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and other unforeseen circumstances. Factors such as lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, inflation have contributed to the market’s uncertainty in year 2022.”
Among ink types, UV printing gained significant traction of 22.3% in 2022 throughout Asia/Pacific excluding Japan and China. Despite a low shipment volume of 1.8 thousand units, there is potential for UV printing to grow in the market, according to the IDC.
“As UV printing technology continues to improve, with a growing number of players offering a wide range of offerings and prices, we are seeing a rise in demand coming from the print service providers,” said Sharon Cheng, senior market analyst, Imaging Printing and Document Solution (IPDS), IDC Asia/Pacific.
“UV printing has been gaining popularity due to the prints durability and flexibility, which allows the users to create more applications with variety of medias and substrates.”
Besides the versatility, environmentally friendliness is also an advantage of UV printing for print service providers to adopt in the coming years, the IDC said. “With many governments within the Asia/Pacific region implementing regulations that aim to promote sustainable printing practices, UV printing can help print service providers to comply with these regulations and reduce environmental impact.”
Shivani Priyadarshini, associate market analyst in IDC Asia/Pacific's Imaging Printing and Document Solution (IPDS) Group, added: “The Bureau of Indian Standards has a set of guidelines for environmentally friendly printing such as using eco-friendly inks and printing materials. These standards will further promote and encourage the adoption of UV printers for both indoor and outdoor signs and displays, since we’re seeing a high annual growth of shipment at 47.9% in India during 2022.”
International Data Corporation (IDC) is a global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets, with more than 1,300 analysts worldwide.
