IDC’s latest “China Printing Peripheral Market Quarterly Tracker (Q1 2022)” shows that in the first quarter of 2022, China’s printing peripheral market shipments were 3.959 million, down 13.7% year-on-year. The shipments of inkjet printers were 1.596 million units, down 10.8% year-on-year; the shipments of laser printers were 1.930 million units, down 14.0% year-on-year; the shipments of dot matrix printers were 433,000 units, down 22.0% year-on-year.
Since mid-March this year, COVID outbreaks have occurred in many places. Shanghai and Shenzhen, which have been severely affected by the current round of the pandemic, are the core cities in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, and are important hubs for domestic and international circulation.
The surrounding areas of Shanghai and Shenzhen are also important manufacturing centres, including many mainstream printer manufacturers and upstream supply chain companies.
IDC believes that if the shutdowns caused by the pandemic are too long, they will have a serious impact: first, the survival of many small and micro manufacturing enterprises and other small and medium-sized enterprises will be seriously threatened; second, it will weaken the country’s advantages in the global supply chain.
In addition, the procurement demand of various industries affected by the pandemic has also been suppressed. IDC believes that in the first quarter, both the supply and demand sides of the printer market were “blocked”, and the whole 2022 may not be more optimistic.
The pandemic has caused problems in the supply of inkjet printers, but it will lead to a recovery in the consumer market. In the first quarter, the size of the inkjet market declined significantly year-on-year.
Entering April, the pandemic has become more extensive and severe, and major manufacturers of ink tank products have been hit hard, which will affect the overall performance of inkjet printers in the second quarter.
At the same time, due to the impact of the pandemic, the demand for home office and online learning has surged, and the demand in the household consumer market will pick up again. However, the recovery of the consumer market after the pandemic may be slow. The pressure of employment and unemployment brought about by the pandemic will lead to a weakening of consumption potential and willingness to consume. Manufacturers should take this factor into account when formulating production and sales plans, IDC said.
In the first quarter, there was also a shortage of A4 laser printers. First, the epidemic situation in Southeast Asian countries still affects the production of some laser printer manufacturers; second, considering the lack of supply of chips and parts, some manufacturers announced the suspension of production of a number of mainstream models, which has a negative impact on the A4 laser printer market.
The lockdowns in China in mid-March had a big impact on some mainstream laser printer manufacturers. Although the production of the products was still guaranteed under the lockdowns, the logistics stagnation prevented the products from being shipped out in time. IDC data shows that A4 format laser printers fell by 12.8% year-on-year.
The A3 laser printer market saw a severe decline due to lack of supply of chips and components. Users’ demand for colour printing increases, colour laser machines contributed more profit growth, and manufacturers also allocate more limited resources to the production of colour machines. Therefore, the 12.0% drop in colour machines is much smaller than the 27.4% drop in black and white machines.
Ren Mengxue, Senior Analyst of IDC China Printing, Imaging and Document Solutions Research Department, believes that the biggest influencing factor in 2022 is the sudden and severe pandemic. He said: “The pandemic has affected the production and operation of all walks of life, and both the supply and demand of the printer market have been suppressed. We believe that the market supply of printers will recover well in the short term after the epidemic. However, the recovery of market demand “disappeared” during the epidemic will be slow.
“First, under the circumstances of repeated epidemics and economic downturn, the government and enterprises will reduce the frequency of replacement and replacement of hardware equipment; secondly, the epidemic has also accelerated the process of digital transformation, further reducing the use and dependence of paper output and printing equipment. Manufacturers should be prepared for a surge in market supply after the epidemic, and rationally formulate production and sales plans.”
