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Growth in Inkjet Multifunction Peripherals to Drive Ink Consumption through 2008
According to Asia/Pacific Quarterly Printer Consumables Tracker, spending on printer supplies declined 4 percent in the first quarter of this year–January to March 2004–from last quarter of 2003. Revenue generated from the sale of printer supplies in Q104 totaled US$845 million in Asia/Pacific, excluding Japan.
"Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand recorded the slowest growth in Q104 due in part to overstocking as well as seasonality factors," said Loh Hwuei Foong, Senior Research Manager for Printer Consumables program in Asia/Pacific. "This market slowdown is short-lived and market punters are hopeful that the growing demand for photo printers and digital cameras will see the consumables market turn the corner by the later half of this year." Another key driver of growth is inkjet multifunction peripherals (MFPs). In Q104, the Asia/Pacific inkjet MFP market produced a 100% year-on-year increase in volume and this is expected to hit 11 million units by year-end. Of the 828,500 units that were shipped into Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) in the first quarter of this year, the corporate segment accounted for 62%. "The growing installed base of inkjet MFPs, especially in the corporate segment, spells good news for inkjet MFP vendors as this will shore up the overall demand for ink supplies," said Ms. Loh.
Presently, the ratio of inkjet hardware (including single and multifunction peripherals) to ink cartridge is 1:3. IDC believes that the boost in inkjet MFPs, brought about by the migration from single function to multifunction devices in developing countries including India, PRC, Indonesia and Malaysia, will bring this ratio to 1:3.35 by the year 2008. With 44 million units of supplies being shipped into Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) in Q104, IDC observed an influx of compatibles and gray market (parallel imports) shipments during the quarter. "Australia witnessed the strongest increase in gray market shipments in Q104 due to the seasonal effects of the post-holiday first quarter. Parallel-importers seized the opportunity of the strong Australian dollar to import huge volumes of ink and toner cartridges as demand surged in the first quarter of this year," noted Ms. Loh.
Meanwhile, compatible shipments in Asia/Pacific continue to pose the biggest challenge to printer and MFP vendors alike. In Q104, compatible shipments made up 24% and 28% of the ink and toner cartridge markets respectively. "Compatibles continue to have a stranglehold of the consumables market due to their lower price points and are increasingly popular in countries like PRC, Taiwan and Thailand where the installed base of printers and MFPs are growing steadily,".
* Post was edited: 2004-08-26 09:40:00
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