British used press dealers are tapping into the Australian market, and giving some stiff competition to local Aussie dealers.
The declining Aussie dollar – 30 per cent lower in the past two years against the British pound – is making the price of used Australian presses very attractive to UK dealers. In 2013 a UK pound was buying $1.45, today it is $2.10, 50 per cent more.
UK-based used printer dealer White Horse Machinery says it is reaping the benefits of the Aussie market, with several high-quality machines bought and sold to Australia and NZ in the last two months.
Local used press suppliers are struggling to compete with large-scale European companies coming into Australia, according to Stewart Graphics.
Stewart Graphics owner Robert Stewart says aggressive European purchasing has made it ‘difficult’ for many Australian printer suppliers.
“A lot of opportunity in the Australian market has evaporated for us because of big British businesses,” he says.
“We’ve sold one decent press recently and are still actively trying, but there’s only a limited amount of enquiries in the local market now,” says Stewart.
[Related: White Horse's success]
While some UK used dealers such as DPM working inAustralia for many years others such as White Horse are new to the market, having expanded into Australia from its UK base this year, and White Horse says they have attracted Aussie and NZ buyers.
White Horse international sales manager Amarpreet Kaur says the company has been ‘purchasing aggressively lately’ and are enjoying excellent sales growth.
White Horse is ‘looking to buy a lot more’ in the near future.
“Our Australian base is very new, and business is going really well,” says Kaur.
“The past year has been excellent in terms of the market in Australia and New Zealand, and we have been doing some tremendous deals.”
Kaur says the company is ‘ready more than ever to buy and sell high quality machines.’
Stewart revealed some optimism for Aussie print dealers, and told ProPrint there is still opportunity to buy and sell smaller printers such as one and two colour in the local market.
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