The fifth drupa Global Trends Report has revealed that, despite global investment growth, printers in Australia and Oceania are lagging behind the rest of the world in capital expenditure.
The report due to be released by the end of the month has printers in the Oceania region, including Australia, lagging behind the world with a net result of only 18 percent of printers reporting an increase in capital expenditure. This is in contrast to the global figure of 33 percent, and shows us trailing way behind leading region North America's 51 percent. According to industry guru Richard Rasmussen of Ascent Partners, this may indicate a lack of confidence from printers in the region. "This could be a sign of waiting and seeing what new technologies emerge, or the fact that as a market we are flatter in growth than others," he said. "With flatter growth comes the lack of necessity, and confidence, to invest."
Confidence is up globally, and Sabine Geldermann, director of drupa, believes the report indicates optimism about the future on the part of printers. "After the double blow of the 2008 global recession and the consumer shift to digital communications, printers and suppliers are taking full advantage of the slow but clear global economic revival and finding new ways to exploit emerging technologies so as to place print as a central tool for consumers," she said.
Packaging remains the most buoyant market, with the report indicating a net 45 percent of packaging printers increasing capital expenditure, compared to functional at 42 percent, commercial at 30 percent and publishing at 20 percent.