Some 2500 printers from Australia and New Zealand made the big trip to drupa in May, a similar number to last time around, in contrast with much of the rest of the world with overall numbers down by 20 per cent.

And despite the hype surrounding inkjet and digital it was sheetfed offset that was nominated by most visitors as their primary area of interest, with 54 per cent of visitors going to check out the latest offset developments, ahead of digital print including inkjet.

Altogether some 260,000 printers were in Dusseldorf for the two weeks of the show, with one per cent of that number coming from Australia and New Zealand, meaning the local industry is punching well above its weight on a per capita basis.

Biggest source of overseas printers was India, followed by Italy, Holland, France and the USA, with Great Britain, China, Belgium, Turkey and Spain making up the top ten.

A quarter of visitors came from Germany, with 75 per cent from overseas, drawn from 182 countries. Average length of stay for non-German visitors was four days, with the locals popping in for two days.

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