The shipping delays from Asia are having a positive impact on the European reuse market.
The latest data published by CONTEXT, states that the sales of printers through European distributors fell sharply in April 2021 (by 11.3% year-on-year in terms of units) and they report that one of their vendors is facing a shortage of components that is having a severe impact on their production line: “it is now taking about four months to produce new printers rather than the usual four-week average.” The News Team has the story here.
CONTEXT commenting on the delays, said: “We believe that most vendors will face the same issue and that this will have serious consequences for the performance of the print sector in the coming months, particularly as remote working and e-schooling continue to increase demand for consumer printers of all types.”
There are shipping delays from China within the European reuse sector, but it is a few days, not weeks, mainly due to ships queueing to unloading in European ports. However Apex Microelectronics told us “We’ve not affected by delays because our chips are mainly transported by air.”
Severe delays in the OEM segment have led to an increased demand for reuse hardware and consumables. One hardware broker, who did not want to be named, told The Recycler, “market demand is up forty percent on the same period last year.
An IT/VAR company we spoke with told us they “have a contract with a big customer in Portugal that has hundreds of HP LaserJet Enterprise M4555 multifunction printer. As HP no longer supports these printers, we are looking for alternatives in the market.” Their customer had rejected an earlier offer for new printers in favour of maintaining their existing printers and buying in a batch of refurbished printers.
Remanufacturers too are reporting an uptick in business: “Last year was really good for us in terms of demand and profitability and we have seen a twenty percent growth in May and early June”, one remanufacturer told The Recycler.
The shipping delays in specific ports in the Shenzhen and Guangzhou region as local authorities implement disinfection and quarantine measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In their June 8 advisory, Maersk, the integrated container logistics company, said the “Yantian International Container Terminals, or YICT, yard density remains elevated.”
Our take on this: Delays from China for OEMs appear to be growing, but for the reuse market delays at European ports are limited to days, mainly due to the volume of ship arrivals increasing following the closure of the Suez Canal in March. Good news for everyone in the reuse channel.
Update: This story was updated at 13.40 on the 15th June t oinclude the quote from Apex Micoelectronics.
