Label markets set for steady growth

Exclusive provisional data from the Smithers Pira report, the Future of Label Printing to 2022, shows that in 2017 this market is worth 34.46 billion USD globally, and over the next five years market growth will occur at an average of 2.8 percent year-on-year to yield a total value of 39.5 billion USD in 2022.

Label markets set for steady growth

This contrasts with an annual growth rate of just 1.2 percent in the wider print market, according to the report, as traditional end-use applications see margins eroded by electronic media. Labels, like packaging, are more resilient in the face of this threat, and there is still significant commercial potential especially in newer markets where population are still making the transition to buying more labelled products.  

With over 465 billion A4 sheet equivalents in 2017, Asia today represents 46 percent of the worldwide label market by volume. Above average growth will push this to 48 percent by the end of the study period. The only region with higher annual expansion across this period is the nascent African market, but even by 2022 it share will be less than four percent of global supply.

There is still potential for new business in mature markets however, the report notes. As an example, both the US and EU are set to implement new labeling obligations for pharmaceutical supply chains. In the latter case, this is occurring via the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD), which will be introduced in Europe in 2018. It will require each individual pack to carry a prescribed unique identifier in a prescribed 2D data matrix format. Tamper evidence features, which are often integrated into label materials for packaging like folding cartons, will also be mandatory under this law.

Within its analysis of label formats, the Smithers Pira report sees pressure-sensitive labels as the dominant product, with a 58 percent market share by value in 2017. Above average growth will see this increase progressively across the next five years. There will also be new demand for sleeves and in-mould labels, while the market share for wet-glue labels will fall. 

The report also details the current state of the market for digital label printing, stating that narrow web label printers have pioneered the use of digital (toner and inkjet systems) across the past decade, with this trend ‘far from exhausted’, with new high volume machines launched every year. The value share of digital printing is now 29.3 percent, up from 20.8 percent in 2012, rising to 35.6 percent in 2022. In volume terms, the shares are lower – 13 percent in 2017 and 17.9 percent in 2022 – reflecting digital’s concentration in shorter run, higher value applications. The growth rate for toner printing will be relatively low at around one percent per year, while the value of inkjet work will grow at 16.5 percent per year across the same period. For analog presses, reasonable expansion is predicted for sheet-fed and coldest litho; although the later process is confined to higher volume low value prints.

The report further notes that many print service providers are now adopting a hybrid working approach and progressively channelling work onto digital presses as their productivity increases and the average run lengths demanded by customers declines.

You can find further information and order the report here.