Saudi, UAE top ME markets for opportunities in printing industry, says report

Dubai - 40% of print businesses believe pricing is a major concern and have not yet invested in sustainable products to answer the rising demand

The Middle East printing industry is at a turning point and the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for print service providers to transform their objectives and operational model, and to look toward new avenues to diversify their offerings, said a new study.
According to Canon ME Printing Industry Market Study 2020, there was a consensus between industry stakeholders that business opportunities will become available predominantly in Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the top two growth markets as the region progresses with the recovery phase.
A majority of respondents, 69 per cent, agree that printing will still be used for major company or product announcements while 64 per cent of print businesses want to diversify into new areas of printing and packaging.
Only 21 per cent feel digitisation is a major challenge, indicating the industry has already embraced this trend with the majority of print service providers agreeing that cloud-enabled digital workflow services were already adding value to their overall workflow.
The study also highlighted the opposing opinions between print businesses and corporates regarding sustainability. While 53 per cent of corporates are transitioning to sustainable printing solutions in the coming months, 40 per cent of print businesses believe pricing is a major concern and have not yet invested in sustainable products to answer the rising demand.
"With the onset of the pandemic and the lockdown, we knew that there is going to be an impact on the print. There was already a change in motion with the natural progression brought forth by digital trends and new print sectors emerging, but we believe the change was accelerated by Covid-19 and put the industry on a path where transformation was now a necessity," said Shadi Bakhour, B2B Business Unit Director, Canon Middle East.
The study was conducted between June 2020 until the first week of July 2020 across the GCC and the Levant regions.
waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com