1.1.4 Distribution and Market Volume

The printing industry is a sector consisting predominantly of small and medium-sized companies. Around 90% of all printing companies worldwide employ less than twenty people.

The growth of the printing industry is influenced essentially by macroeconomic factors such as economic

development and consumer demand. Worldwide, the

printing industry contributes 1–12%to the gross added

value of the processing industry.

In the industrial countries the production volume of

the printing industry has a share of 0.5–4% in the gross

domestic product (GDP). In emerging markets this

share may even amount to 20% of the gross domestic

product. In the USA the printing industry is the sixth

largest industrial sector and has therefore a clear economic significance for the country.

In 2000 the 430000 printing companies worldwide

will achieve a turnover in the range of 430–460 billion

US dollars.

The areas of advertising and commercial printing as well as packaging and label printing make up the most important product segments with current sales of 129–138 billion US dollars. Catalogs are the least important in terms of sales.

93% of volume is concentrated in the regions of North America and Central Europe, as well as Asia/Pacific. Within these regions the most important markets are the USA,Germany, Great Britain, and Japan, which alone accountfor 50%.

North America has the greatest per capita consumption

of print products per year. This is six times greater

than the worldwide average consumption of 58 US dollars. An analysis of individual countries

shows a more differentiated picture. Japan has the

highest per capita consumption at 480 US dollars while

the USA, at 342 US dollars, is closely followed by Singapore at 320 US dollars. The greatest future growth is expected to be in China, South East Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.

1.1.5 Trends and Scenarios

for the Future

The worldwide growth in gross domestic product up

to the year 2002 is estimated to be 3.4% p.a. In comparison the volume of print products is predicted to

rise by 2.5–3% that is, there is a potential market of

452–488 billion US dollars by the year 2002.

As far as printed matter world-wide is concerned,

packaging and label printing shows strong growth

while the other product segments such as advertising

and commercial printing, newspapers, catalogues,

magazines, and books show a moderate increase.

There is an enormous variation in growth between

individual regions or countries. Hence the greatest

future growth rates are expected in China and other

emerging markets, whereas the highly developed

economies will show only slight increases.

The printing industry as a whole has generally been

undergoing enormous structural and technological

change for several years. Apart from the changes affecting the traditional printing sector, the integration

of new media (e.g., CD-ROMs, online services) into

existing product offers represents the greatest challenge

to the graphic arts industry in the years to come.