Focus: Emerging printing countries are rising？

While the printing industry in developed economies such as Europe, America, and Japan is struggling to recover, emerging market countries represented by China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and South Korea, although also affected by the international financial crisis, have maintained a rapid upward trend in their printing industry overall, with a rapid increase in market volume, forming a sharp contrast with the situation in developed economies. Below, we will elaborate on the current situation, causes, prospects, and gaps with developed economies of these markets one by one.
Current situation: Rapid growth in the total market volume
From 2006 to 2012, the global printing market grew from 690.8 billion US dollars to 720.6 billion US dollars, an increase of 18.2%. During the same period, developed regions such as North America and Western Europe had growth rates of only 8.3% and 12.3%, respectively, while regions dominated by developing countries such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia had growth rates of 51.7%, 51.4%, 42.5%, 33.9%, and 23.9%, respectively.
In 2012, there were 104400 printing enterprises and 3.4413 million employees in China, achieving a total output value of 9510.13 billion yuan in the printing industry, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%; The total assets amounted to 1046.129 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18%; The total profit is 72.498 billion yuan; The foreign processing trade volume was 77.204 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%. All major indicators have maintained an upward trend, and based on output value, the scale of China's printing industry has jumped to the second place in the world, second only to the United States.
In 2006, the total output value of India's printing industry was 12.1 billion US dollars, ranking 12th in the global market. In 2012, the total output value of India's printing industry reached 21 billion US dollars, an increase of 73% in six years, far exceeding the growth rates of 8.1% in the United States, 4% in Japan, and 11.2% in Germany during the same period. Its ranking in the global market has risen to 8th place. From 2011 to 2016, the Indian printing industry will continue to grow at an average annual rate of 6%, and it is expected to jump to fifth place in the global printing market by 2016.
The development of Indonesia's printing industry is basically synchronized with the entire national economy, with an average annual growth rate of 6% to 7%. Among them, the growth rate of packaging printing is about 6.3%, higher than newspapers and magazines. In 2000, the per capita paper consumption in Indonesia was 20.6 kilograms, reaching 32.6 kilograms in 2010, an increase of 60%. It is expected to reach 40.09 kilograms in 2013, nearly doubling from 2000.
Pakistan has over 15000 printing companies, and in order to meet the rapidly growing demand of the printing and packaging market, Pakistani printing companies invest heavily every year. In the past 5 years, the average annual growth rate of the CTP equipment market in Pakistan has been 99.99%, and the average annual growth rate of the offset printing machine market has been 20%.
Analysis: Domestic demand engine drives development
Three major factors have contributed to the rise of the emerging markets mentioned above.
The large population base brings about strong domestic demand. Major emerging market countries have large populations and the robust domestic demand they bring. For example, China has a population of 1.34 billion, India has a population of 1.21 billion, Indonesia has a population of 240 million, and Pakistan has a population of 170 million.
Secondly, the demographic dividend brings advantages in outward oriented trade. Export driven is an important feature of China's economic development over the past 30 years of reform and opening up. In 2012, the foreign processing trade volume of China's printing industry was 77.204 billion yuan. If packaging products exported with other goods are included, the value will be even higher. Pakistan also regards promoting exports as an important driving force for the development of its printing industry, and has done a lot of work in establishing industry standards that comply with international practices and improving technological levels.
Once again, the advantage of being a latecomer has lowered the entry threshold for the industry. Due to the weak foundation and low technological level of the printing industry in emerging market countries, coupled with strong market demand, the entry threshold for the industry is relatively low. Especially with the influx of a large number of cheap second-hand printing equipment from Europe, America, and Japan in recent years, the difficulty of establishing printing brush enterprises in emerging market countries has further decreased. Currently, India, Pakistan, and China import a large amount of second-hand printing equipment every year.
Gap: Significant difference in scale and quality
Compared with developed economies, although the printing industry in emerging market countries has shown higher vitality and growth rate, there is still a significant gap overall, mainly reflected in two aspects:
Industrial scale. In the global printing market of 411 billion euros in 2011, Western Europe and North America ranked in the top two with a share of 34.4% and 31% respectively, while the Asia Pacific region, which accounts for 54% of the world's population, only accounted for 26.7% of the total printing market. In the national ranking, the United States, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom still rank within the top 5, China ranks second, while India only ranks 8th, Indonesia ranks 13th, and Russia ranks 21st.
Development quality. From the perspective of the form of printing industry in various countries, there is a significant gap between emerging market countries and developed economies. Overall, the printing industry in emerging market countries is still dominated by traditional formats, with relatively backward technological levels. Second hand equipment accounts for a considerable market share, and manual labor still exists in large numbers. The development model is relatively extensive. The exploration and practice of emerging technologies and business models such as digital printing, online printing, functional printing, printed electronics, and 3D printing by printing enterprises are significantly lagging behind their counterparts in developed economies, and there is also a significant gap in product quality and standardization level.
Outlook: Industrial upgrading is imperative
The economic development potential of emerging market countries will still support their printing industry to maintain stable growth for a long time, but with changes in the market environment, the printing industry in emerging market countries is also facing varying degrees of pressure for transformation and upgrading. From the perspective of development prospects, the printing industry in emerging market countries will exhibit the following four characteristics in the future.
Industrial upgrading is imperative. The structural overcapacity of China's printing industry is evident, labor costs are rapidly rising, and the pressure for enterprise transformation is increasing. In the future, the development of the printing industry will gradually shift from the extensive growth model that mainly pursues speed and scale to an intensive development model that pays more attention to quality and connotation. By adopting more intelligent and automated equipment, the transformation from labor-intensive to technology intensive will be achieved, reducing dependence on low-cost labor. Transformation and upgrading will be an unavoidable issue for the printing industry in emerging market countries.
Secondly, the development of digital printing will receive greater attention. Digital printing is a widely discussed technology in both developed economies and emerging market countries. Currently, large printing companies in South Korea are striving to enhance their market competitiveness by establishing a hybrid workflow that combines traditional and digital printing. As of 2012, the digital printing industry accounted for 10% of the entire Korean industry and has enormous growth potential in the future. In 2011, there were 799 digital printing enterprises in China, with a total output value of 3.974 billion yuan, accounting for only 0.46% of the industry's total output value. However, in the future, printing enterprises will explore and try more in digital printing and printing digitization.
Thirdly, the issue of printing environmental protection has been put on the agenda. Compared with developed economies, emerging market countries have relatively lagged behind in environmental issues, but with the increasing awareness of social environment, this issue has been put on the agenda of the development of the printing industry. The former General Administration of Press and Publication proposed in the "12th Five Year Plan for the Development of Printing Industry" to vigorously promote the development of green printing. By the end of the 12th Five Year Plan period, it is necessary to establish a basic green and environmentally friendly printing system, and strive for the number of green printing enterprises to account for 30% of the total number of printing enterprises in China. Under the strong promotion of relevant parties, by August 2013, 307 enterprises had passed the certification of green printing enterprises.
Korean printing companies have also conducted extensive practices in environmental protection. Efforts should be made to improve the level of waste disposal and reduce the impact on the environment; Develop measures to eliminate noise, sewage, and pollutants, and strive to comply with government regulations on environmental protection; Reduce paper waste, use environmentally friendly paper (such as soy paper) and water-soluble ink, and transform solvent based polishing into environmentally friendly UV ink technology; Purchase paper that has obtained FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and ISO14001 certification for international management system standards; Take measures to compensate for the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on the environment.
Fourthly, emerging business models have attracted widespread attention. Although printing companies in emerging market countries lag behind their counterparts in developed economies in the application of new technologies and exploration of new business models, they have also paid great attention to emerging formats, such as the rapid development of online printing in South Korea. Many prepress companies provide printing services directly through the internet and digital printing equipment, and use cross media channels to publish information on various media, combining promotion and marketing. Online ordering, editing, printing, tracking delivery information, and repeat ordering have been accepted by the market. In addition, due to South Korea's position in the IT industry, the printed electronics industry mainly includes LCD PDP、OLED、 Electronic paper, as well as RFID, solar cells, and batteries, have experienced rapid development in South Korea.