MENA market to reach 40 billion USD in 2022

Data from a new report, The Future of Printing in the Middle East and North Africa to 2022, shows the region as a whole is set to expand from a value of 26.8 billion USD in 2017 at an annual rate of 8.7 percent to pass 40 billion USD in 2022. This contrasts with a mean annual growth of 2.4 percent for 2012-2017, reflecting the opening of until now underdeveloped countries to the full range of modern print products and technologies. Smithers Pira said this expansion is occurring against a more static backdrop for the print industry generally, with annual global growth pegged at a more sober two percent as traditional segments decline. As a consequence, the MENA region can be seen as an attractive strategic growth target for international print equipment and consumable suppliers.

Stephen Hill, Smithers Pira EMEA operations director, said: ‘The drop off in demand for high volume print products – like books and newspapers – in core European and North America markets, means the print industry needs to find new markets. And from a number of perspectives MENA is very attractive for this. We are seeing global print firms opening new offices and reporting sales to the region, and local print service providers diversifying their product offering as they rapidly adopt new technologies.

‘Of course, selling effectively into MENA has some unique challenges but our research shows the demand is and will be there; and there are specific opportunities now, like the opening up of the post-sanctions Iranian market, and transition economies moving towards food sold in supermarkets in locally printed packaging.’

The report also found that MENA is not divorced from wider print technology trends, with digital – inkjet and toner – output set to rise at the fastest rate. Overall, MENA output will rise from 2.61 trillion A4 sheet equivalents in 2017 to 2.76 trillion in 2022. This is a more modest 2.8 percent annual growth, but emphasizes the value-adding potential and higher per unit print service providers will be able to realize with a new generation of print, pre-press, and finishing equipment, according to Smithers Pira, which will be exhibiting at Gulf Print & Pack 2017, running March 26-29 at Dubai World Trade Centre.

Attendees at Gulf Print & Pack 2017 can pick up a free copy of the new Smithers Pira white paper, Print in the Middle East: 5 Opportunities for Growth, and purchase the The Future of Printing in the Middle East and North Africa to 2022 report, with an exclusive 20 percent discount

Gulf Print & Pack is targeted at printers, brand owners and designers. Entry to the four-day trade fair is free and visitors can pre-register by visiting www.gulfprintpack.com.

Read a preview of Gulf Print & Pack 2017 here