According to the latest research report of Smithers peel Institute, a global authoritative market research institution, the future of global printing by 2026, significant changes will take place in the printing market. The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic impact on the industry gradually dissipated, but the resulting change in demand patterns will create a new pattern.

According to the report, by 2026, the size of the printing market will increase from US $799.6 billion in 2016 to US $834.2 billion, but the total printing volume will decrease from about 49.2 trillion A4 paper to 43.4 trillion. The market structure has also changed accordingly. Label and packaging printing will grow rapidly and occupy an increasing share in the whole market.

Novel coronavirus pneumonia is slowly recovering from the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic this year. In 2020, the global printing volume decreased by 11.6% and the market scale decreased by 7.9%. In 2021, there was a slow recovery, with a total market size of US $760.6 billion, equivalent to 42.2 trillion A4 paper prints produced on 239 million tons of substrate, and nearly 3.3 million tons of ink and coating were consumed. Printing enterprises and packaging processors have used more than 591 million square meters of lithographic printing plates and nearly 6 million square meters of photosensitive resin flexographic plates, and invested about US $15.9 billion to introduce new printing and packaging equipment. In 2021, the printing industry is mainly facing the pressure of cost and supply chain. With the extension of delivery time of paper and paperboard, the prices of paper, paperboard, ink, printing plate and energy are also rising.

In terms of regional market, although affected by the epidemic, the scale of Asian printing market will increase by 19.6% and the printing volume will increase by 1.7% from 2016 to 2026. In contrast, the printing volume in North America decreased by 28%, the market size decreased by 9.4%, while the market size in Western Europe decreased by 10.7%, and the printing volume will decrease by 32.6%. Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa achieved growth.

The report points to major changes in the printing process being applied. Digital printing for commercial printing and label packaging is becoming more and more popular. In 2016, digital printing accounted for 2.1% of the total printing volume, but with the application of new technologies, this value increased to 17.2% in 2021. It is expected that digital printing, including hybrid printing, will account for 21.6% of the total printing volume by 2026. High added value has great attraction to printing service providers and equipment consumables manufacturers. They are investing billions of dollars to develop, improve and put digital printing systems on the market.

In terms of substrate and ink, the total consumption of global printing substrate in 2021 was 239 million tons. Packaging accounts for 65.4% of the total consumption and will increase to 311 million tons by 2026, which is driven by the increase of packaging demand. The volume of printing paper has declined, and some paper mills in Europe and North America have been closed. From 2016 to 2026, the consumption of graphic paper will decrease by 22.6%, of which newsprint will decrease the most.

The ink consumption is consistent with the printing volume. In 2021, the total product volume is 3.17 million tons, and the market scale is US $39 billion, accounting for 5.2% of the total printing market scale. By 2026, the output will increase slightly to 3.51 million tons, and the market scale will reach US $50.6 billion. The proportion of inkjet and toner in the market scale will increase. From 2016 to 2026, the global consumption of lithographic printing plates will decline, but by 2026, the number of photosensitive resin flexographic plates will increase.

The report shows that in 2021, global equipment manufacturers increased their orders after experiencing a decline. The total market size of new printing equipment is US $15.9 billion, an increase of nearly 20% over 2020, but still lower than the level in 2019. In 2016, digital printing equipment accounted for 28% of all new printing equipment, which will reach 38.5% by 2026.