Between “the Olympics of Printing” in Düsseldorf and the Paris Olympic Games, there was another remarkable European event, the UEFA European Football Championship. For those watching, it was hard not to see how many Chinese companies were present in the advertising landscape – five of the 13 official global sponsors of the UEFA Euro 2024 championship were from China.
As Ralf Schlözer mentioned in his recent article, Chinese companies also had a strong presence at drupa. Over 440 China-based companies, represented 25% of all exhibitors and occupied more than 26,000 square meters of net exhibition space. This substantial Chinese presence underscores the country’s growing influence in the global printing industry. In particular, China’s production inkjet printing industry has experienced significant growth and development over the past few decades, covering a range of applications including commercial printing, labels and packaging, textile and industrial printing.
The question is, will Chinese companies, including production inkjet OEMs, become a major player in the global printing industry? Until recently, that answer was definitively no because most of these companies were focused on the growing domestic market.
The domestic Chinese market
From 2015 to 2019, the market size of China’s digital inkjet printing market has been maintained at an average annual growth rate of more than 20%. The country’s large manufacturing base and advances in technology have driven the adoption of inkjet printing in various sectors of the industry.
According to Yolanda Wang, China editor of Labels & Labeling, more than 700 digital label press presses had been installed by 2023. Western brands, which were the first to enter the Chinese market, account for about 70 percent of installations, but the situation is changing. If we exclude from this figure toner presses such as HP Indigo, Xeikon and Konica Minolta, the percentage of presses made in China is much higher.
Fast adoption of digital printing technologies by label converters in China triggered the appearance on the market of inkjet label presses from several domestic OEMs, including RTZ Flora, Haotian, Pulisi, HanLabel and some others.
The popularity of hybrid machines, combining a digital print engine with analog print stations and in-line finishing units, may overtake toner, which has dominated digital label printing. Chinese OEMs are flexible and quick to make changes based on market demand. Hybrid label presses demonstrated at drupa included analog modules such as cold foil, high gloss/matte flexo varnishing and semi- or full-rotary die-cutting as well as a digital varnish unit capable of producing 3D-embossed varnish-like effects and digital cold foil lamination.
Recently, only a small number of production inkjet presses sold in China were from Western OEMs. This situation may be reminiscent of what happened with flexo presses in China between 2019 and 2023 when the share of imported presses collapsed from 40% to less than 1%.
However, the speed of the domestic economic recovery after the pandemic has not fulfilled all expectations. China, the world’s second largest economy, has slowed down in the face of the real estate crisis, stock market volatility, and geopolitical tensions. As the West pursues a policy of de-risking from China, China’s economy loses billions. Foreign investments into the mainland have become negative for the first time since 1998.
Digital printing is on the rise, but not at the rate predicted a few years ago. As a result, production inkjet vendors, who have traditionally focused on the local market, are starting to look to expand their business overseas. Many Chinese vendors want to set up distribution through established dealers in Europe.
Status of expansion beyond China
Lynn Lin, the director of Pulisi, believes that the development of China’s label market has entered a stable state and that the development speed of China’s label market will inevitably slowdown in the future. That’s why the company has laid out overseas markets in advance, and the overseas share of the company’s business is expected to grow to 60% this year. At drupa, Pulisi claimed that their installation base had reached 170 units and included more than 40 countries.
Haotian Director of Digital Printing Division, Mr. Chenshi, in a 2023-interview talked about 100 sold presses, with 20 of them outside of China.
The HanGlory Group has been increasing its presence abroad, with several new label and POD press installations in Italy, Poland, Turkey, Mexico, Peru, and Russia. According to the company, more than 10 Hanway corrugated inkjet presses have been sold in each region of North America, Europe, and South America. To support its customers, HanGlory has established service centers in Italy and the USA.
Weigang, a major traditional offset and flexographic printing equipment manufacturer in China, launched its digital printing equipment in 2023 in response to market demand. The company is actively developing overseas markets, with the proportion of overseas business reaching a quarter of the company’s total business. Weigang has a customer base in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Japan, among other countries.
The Chinese industrial digital presses manufacturer Atexco sold more than 40 machines, mostly to customers from Asia, during the ITMA 2023 – the world’s largest international textile and garment technology exhibition. Atexco is also targeting Europe, where the OEM has a strong installed base, particularly in northern Italy and Turkey.The company has set up technical support centers in the UK, France, Italy and Turkey.
There are still issues with perception of Chinese products in the West, but today from a technical point of view Chinese-made machines can compete with presses from Japan, the US and Europe. It is also no secret that many of the inkjet printers sold by Western companies are made, at least in part, in China.
Not everything is rosy
There is the potential for cost savings on equipment and consumables but new market entrants, and OEMs working in a new region for the first time brings challenges.
- While the price of the equipment from China could be considerably less than for the Western counterparts, the buyer won’t have the same level of support from the manufacturer and must depend mainly on the distributor.
- While China produces both water-based and UV inks, for high-quality printing, only inks from well-known international manufacturers are suitable. The price of the well-known Chinese ink brands will not be lower than that of European or Japanese machines so cost savings won’t come without compromise on quality.
- Water-based pigment inks seem to be better in terms of the overall price/quality tradeoff, however customers have reported that the ink quality can vary from batch to batch. A significantly lower price for inks could come at the expense of quality, reliability, and durability.
- The quality, capabilities, and future localization of bundled software, including DFE is also a concern. Many Chinese presses are driven by the Onyx Graphics RIP, which is primarily aimed at wide format printing.
- It is very difficult to get detailed marketing or technical information from vendors. There are both language issues and cultural differences to be considered. Web sites are often not usable, specifications are not complete, and not all models are listed. This is where the role of the local distributor becomes very important.
At the Paris Olympics, China’s manufacturing dominance was on full display. Although the games were held in France, much of the equipment and goods came from China. It may take some time for Chinese suppliers to establish their own sales and support networks in Europe and the US, but OEMS should prepare for the potential for Chinese presses to compete “en masse” with their Western counterparts. Hopefully preparation will help to avoid a repeat of the lithium battery, solar panel, and electric vehicle story.