IDC: Review on 2021 China Print Consumables Market

IDC: Review on 2021 China Print Consumables Market

According to IDC, China print consumables shipments increased 1.4% year-over-year to almost 94.35 million units in 2021. Among them, inkjet consumables grew 3.6% year-over-year, and overall laser consumables increased 0.6% compared to 2020.

Due to the obvious structural changes in the inkjet market, and the 20.9% growth in continuous supply ink tank printer installations, shipments of bottled inks registered double-digit growth, reaching 25.8%. On the one hand, it shows that continuous supply products are recognized by more consumers and commercial users relying on their subversive cost-effective advantages; at the same time, the overall supply of ink cartridge products is insufficient this year, and the overall supply of ink tank products is stable, which is also an important factor in the growth of bottled ink.

The five-year compound growth rate of the laser printer market has reached 3.3%, which makes the overall laser print consumables still maintain a positive growth of 0.6% year-over-year in 2021.

IDC pointed out that digital transformation will exert a negative impact on page volume in a long term.

1. Inkjet market

Ink cartridges are still the mainstream. Despite the supply shortage in 2021 caused by reduced production and uneven regional allocation, overall OEM ink cartridge shipment still turned out to be 13.41 million units, down 3.6% compared to 2020.

Profit continues to drop for the aftermarket ink cartridges due to OEM ink cartridge technical upgrades and the increase in production. Only leading aftermarket ink manufacturers can make production plans based on demands, small and medium aftermarket ink manufacturers have to shift their focus to produce and sell laser consumables.

In the past 5 years, the compound rate of the aftermarket ink cartridges was -11.7%, which shows the insufficiency of the aftermarket in coping with technology innovation and product upgrade. Continuous supply ink tank printers win more and more users, due to stable supply and cheaper printing costs. As continuous supply ink tank printer installation continuously grows, there will be high potential for OEM and Aftermarket bottled ink to grow rapidly.

According to IDC, the compound growth rate of ink tank printer ink bottle shipment reached 12.9% in the past 5 years, boosting the confidence of overall inkjet consumable manufacturers, which will exert an important influence on the future development of the inkjet consumables market.

2. Laser Market

With over twenty years of development, the Aftermarket laser consumables market share grew from 13.6% to 77.9% in the domestic laser consumables market, making it the first choice for both individual and corporate users. The significant change owes to technology innovation, quality control and marketing success of Chinese leading brands such as G&G and Print-Rite. Meanwhile, it also thanks to the supportive national policy, which accelerates the transformation of Aftermarket to a track to enhance brand influence and standardized operation.

Despite the vigorous development of the aftermarket consumables, the compound growth rate of OEM toner cartridges still reached 2.3%.

Within the limited growth, IDC noticed that Chinese printer brands achieved obvious growth in the consumer and commercial market. Pantum, a key brand, has developed to be one of the top 5 leading brands in the overall China laser printer market, and its laser consumables reported a remarkable compound annual growth rate of 27.7% in the past 5 years.

To sum up, Yuanguang Huo, senior analyst of IDC China peripherals products and solutions department, believes that the domestic print consumables market has developed to a mature stage and is undergoing the in-depth integration of enterprise digital transformation, intelligent commerce, smart office and traditional office printing applications. On the one hand, we should accept the negative impact of efficiency first paperless office on printout; At the same time, we should also see that the total number of complete machines in the consumables market supporting the huge printing demand is still growing steadily.

The growth of installation comes from the small and medium-sized enterprises which occupy the mainstream of the market, the fast-growing market segments’ innovative printing solutions, and the fast-growing home market. In the current era of the digital economy and intelligent commerce, only by continuously innovating the printing mode and deepening the application solutions of printing output in various industries, and meeting the needs of users for multi-function, multi-scene and high-cost performance, can international mainstream manufacturers and domestic emerging printer brands bring new business opportunities to enterprises and lead the long-term sustainable development of the printing industry.

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