Two reports show continued growth of digital print

PODI’s report found that digital volumes increased slightly in the Australian market last year, largely driven by a 55% boost in colour volumes.

The study found that Australian production digital printers produced 13.8 billion A4-equivalent prints in 2009, a marginal increase of 1% from 13.6 billion in 2008.

Monochrome volumes actually declined 9% to 10.4 billion pages in 2009, but the total result was propped up by a 55% increase in colour volumes to 3.4 billion pages.

As a result of this trend, the proportion of colour output moved from 16% to 25% of all digital pages. Because of the higher value of colour prints, the report estimates that the revenue from production digital printing increased 20%.

The PODI study was based on data from digital vendors such as Canon, Fuji Xerox, HP, Konica Minolta, Océ and Ricoh.

Meanwhile, a report from Canon has claimed that 58% of digital print providers increased their profit/revenue in 2009, as opposed to just over 31% of non-digital providers.

The study, based on a survey of 840 printers across the world and conducted by ProPrint columnist Frank Romano, also claimed that 26% of printers who did well during the downturn had invested in both digital and offset lithographic.

It also found that 10% of profitable printers reduced staff at the end of 2008 and the start of 2009.

Mark Harvey (pictured), general manager production printing systems at Canon Australia, said: “With more print customers cutting back print runs, the research showed some service providers attempted to use their offset lithographic presses to meet these needs but many found their legacy presses inadequate for the task. As a result, those providers who had invested in digital printing benefitted.

“The global market has been contracting since the 1990s and the global financial crisis simply compounded what was already a negative trend. Despite this, the global contraction rate is slowing as it becomes clear which products will continue to grow and which will not.”

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