Smithers Forecasts $834.3 Billion Global Print Market by 2026, with Packaging and Labels Showing Greater Resilience

Commercial, graphic, publication, packaging, and label printing all face the same core challenge: adapting to the post-Covid-19 market landscape. According to Smithers' new report, The Future of Global Printing to 2026, the market was already recovering in 2021 after a deeply disruptive 2020, although the pace of recovery varied across segments.

The total value of global printing in 2021 is set to reach $760.6 billion, equal to 41.9 trillion A4 prints produced worldwide. That is up from $750 billion in 2020, yet print volume fell further, down 5.87 trillion A4 prints compared with 2019. The impact was most visible in publications and in some graphic and commercial applications. Stay-at-home orders caused magazine and newspaper sales to drop sharply; only a short-term rise in orders for educational and leisure books partially offset the decline, while many routine commercial and graphic print jobs were cancelled. Packaging and label printing proved more resilient and offer a clear strategic focus for the industry over the next five years. As end-use markets return steadily, investment in new printing and finishing equipment will reach $15.9 billion in 2021.

Smithers expects packaging and labels, together with new demand from Asia's growing economies, to drive moderate growth through 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 1.9% at constant prices. By 2026, total value is projected to reach $834.3 billion. Volume growth will be slower, at a CAGR of 0.7%, reaching 43.4 trillion A4 paper equivalents by 2026; however, most of the volume lost in 2019-2020 is unlikely to be recovered.

For companies at every stage of the printing supply chain, responding to rapidly shifting consumer demand while modernizing print shops and business processes will be critical to future success.

Smithers' expert analysis identifies the main trends for 2021-2026:

· In the post-pandemic era, more localized print supply chains will gain favor. Print buyers will reduce their reliance on single suppliers and just-in-time delivery, instead seeking flexible printing services that can respond quickly to changing market conditions;

· Disrupted supply chains generally favor digital inkjet and electrophotographic printing, accelerating their adoption across multiple end-use applications. Digital printing's market share by value will rise from 17.2% in 2021 to 21.6% in 2026, making it a major focus of R&D across the industry;

· Demand for printed e-commerce packaging will continue, as brands seek to deliver better experiences and engagement. Higher-quality digital printing will be used to leverage improved messaging on packaging, promote other products, and create a potential revenue stream for print service providers. This aligns with the industry trend toward smaller print runs that are closer to consumers;

· As the world becomes more electronically connected, printing equipment will adopt more Industry 4.0 and network printing concepts. This will improve uptime and order turnaround, allow better benchmarking, and enable machines to publish available capacity online in real time to attract more work.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378683.html