Drupa Global Trends Report to be published this month

The seventh Drupa Global Trends Report - from a survey conducted before the coronavirus pandemic - will be published later this month. Results showed a global industry that remained positive but reflected more challenging global economic conditions.

The report highlights that packaging and functional market sectors were better placed than publishing and commercial (the latter includes wide-format). North America remained buoyant but confidence has slipped in Europe and across all other regions. Developing regions were held back by concerns about political instability and corruption, while developed regions were nervous of an inevitable cyclical economic downturn. There was reported constant pressure on margins but investment plans remained strong. The findings come from the seventh annual survey issued last November to the Drupa Expert Panel of senior decision takers recruited from printers and exhibitors at Drupa 2016 and run by Printfuture (UK) and Wissler and Partner. Almost 600 printers and almost 200 suppliers participated with all regions well represented. Globally 17% more printers described their company’s economic condition as ‘good’ compared with those who reported it as ‘poor’. For suppliers the net positive balance was even stronger at +32%. However, there is a clear trend with confidence peaking in 2017 after the long slow recovery following the 2007/8 recession and a more cautious approach developing since. North America stood out as buoyant over the whole seven years of the Drupa Global Trends Reports. Europe showed increasing confidence until 2018 but a decline since, while all other regions showed a decline. Finishing was the most popular investment area, followed by print technology and then prepress/workflow/MIS. Richard Gray, operations director at Printfuture, stated: “For the first time we asked specifically about the broader socio-economic pressures and there were two clear patterns reported across the globe. For the developed regions the focus was concern about the risk of, or reality of, economic recession in the country or region, followed by concern about global trade wars and the impact of global warming/environmental pressures. For the developing regions, it was corruption and political instability creating economic recession that dominated. Clearly, we must now add the impact of the corona virus, a concern for all which, however, is not yet represented by the report.”