The markets are said to have “consigned” concerns over the recession “to the memory bank”.
IDC’s report on the region, Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, reported that “growth continues unabated” in the Middle Eastern and Turkish hardcopy peripherals market, with a third successive quarter of growth recorded in the first quarter of 2014. This growth, the analysts noted, showed a continuation of “strong recovery from recession” in the region.
Shipments to the markets, which are combined in terms of analysis, increased by 13.1 percent in volume and 18.2 percent in value compared to the first quarter of 2013, with “all the key country markets” growing by double-digits. The “stable economic outlook” for the region has coupled “with an easing of political tensions” to increase investment in infrastructure, which has consequentially “had a positive impact on demand” for printers.
Colour laser printers were “particularly popular” in the quarter, with yearly growth of 56.1 percent over last year to 100,000 units, and revenues for colour laser grew by 38.3 percent, a lesser growth rate due to “declining average sales prices”. The analysts noted that it expects to see these prices fall further as sellers “strive to increase the acceptance levels for colour printers across the region”.
Additionally, monochrome laser shipments grew by 12.9 percent to 498,000 units, and revenues increased by 11.3 percent thanks to the “mid-to-high-end segment” acting as the “primary driver of growth”. Total inkjet shipments increased by seven percent to around 443,000 units, whilst revenues grew by 20.5 percent thanks to growth in the “higher price brands” of devices, in particular those costing more than $400 (€294).
Ashwin Venkatchari, Senior Programme Manager for Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey, stated: “The successful resolution of the damaging inventory shortages that were experienced in Q1 2013 (particularly in the colour laser segment), together with the new distribution partners appointed by some vendors in the region, have had a positive impact on shipment growth in the Middle East region.
“While the trend is a very clear indication that the region’s HCP market has well and truly come out of recession, the immediate challenge facing vendors is how effectively they can protect and grow their market shares by offering attractive value propositions for their products and services.”