Printer hardware shipments to EMEA drop in 1Q2015

June 12, 2015

Unit shipments were down eight percent year-on-year for the first quarter of 2015, owing to weak performance in the Middle East, Africa and CEE.

According to data from Context, shipments to Western Europe make up over 60 percent of the EMEA total. Zivile Brazdziunaite, Imaging Market Analyst at Context, said that “Inkjet MFP shipments mirrored this overall performance”, while the number of laser MFPs shipped to Western Europe fell by 1 percent.

He continued: “This drop comes after a strong performance in previous quarters and an unusually strong 1Q2014.”

In contrast, laser SFPs increased shipments by two percent, bucking the trend of continuous negative performance from 2014. Year-on-year unit exports to Germany an France grew by 10 percent and nine percent respectively as the economic situations there improves, while Spain continued its double-digit increase with 13 percent growth, driven “mostly by strong growth of Inkjet MFPs”.

The “deteriorating situation” in Russia is affecting performance in CEE, with unit shipments falling 30 percent year-on-year in all printer hardware categories in 1Q2015. Contrasting a 50 percent shipment decline for Russia, there was double-digit growth to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, driven by growth in Inkjet MFPs.

Shipments to the Middle East and Africa also dwindled, dropping 11 percent as mobile devices continue to grow in the region. Laser hardware shipments fell four percent year-on-year, while sell-in levels for inkjet hardware decreased by 18 percent for the quarter. The largest hardware markets within the region, UAE and Turkey, saw double-digit falls, although unit shipments to Saudi Arabia grew eight percent.

Inkjet MFP shipments “lay behind the negative performance in UAE and Turkey”, while growth in Saudi Arabia was helped by “increased sell-in levels of multi-function laser and inkjet devices”. Context expects the UAE’s implementation of a paperless system will “have had an impact, leading to a decline in demand in the government sector”.

By country, the biggest changes between 1Q2015 and the 1Q2014 results were: Iceland, Finland and Greece, which grew by 29 percent, 24 percent and 21 percent respectively; and at the other end of the scale, Luxembourg, Ireland, Austria and Belgium, who saw losses of 54 percent, 33 percent, 25 percent and 21 percent respectively. Germany grew by 10 percent and France by 9 percent, while the UK dropped 11 percent.

 

Categories : City News

Tags : Business EMEA Market Data