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Publication date: 02 Oct 2023

Digital Textile Printer Market in Asia/Pacific* Faces 4.1% YoY Dip in 1H23, According to IDC

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Asia/Pacific* Textile Industry Eyes Pigment Ink as Next Big Trend

SINGAPORE, 2 October 2023 – According to IDC Worldwide Industrial Printer Tracker, a total of 903 units of digital industrial textile printer was shipped in the first half of 2023 for Asia/Pacific excluding Japan, with an annual decline of 4.1% from 1H22 to year 1H23. The textile factories are adopting the digital industrial textile printer to meet the short-run demand in the market. A digital industrial textile printer refers to the device with a speed of 200 square meters per hour or more with open system inks or dye sublimation inks like Epson Monna Lisa Evo Tre series, MS Printing Solutions Lario, or Konica Minolta Nassenger series.

The textile industry saw impressive growth in 2020 and 2021. However, 2022 onwards showed significant challenges due to supply chain disruptions on raw materials, delayed production, or currency fluctuations. Amid these challenges, textile factories in the industry endured and adapted to the evolving landscape during Covid-19 pandemic. Many textile factories have adopted digital textile printing during the earlier period to fulfill the short-run orders and optimize operational efficiency, to further sustain the businesses. Continuous challenges throughout the industry had resulted in a subsequent downturn in 2022, causing major layoffs in many textile factories as a measure to better navigate the challenging environment.

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While the overall shipment experienced a semiannual growth of 13.6% in 1H23, the contribution of dye-sublimation ink remained strong with about 80% of the total shipment out of the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan, and the remaining 20% comprises open system ink. This shows the users’ preference towards dye-sublimation ink due to its sustainable characteristic, cost effectiveness and lower investment cost as compared to open system printers.

“While we see dye-sublimation is increasingly preferred by the textile factories, we are also expecting pigment ink will transform in the digital industrial textile printing market,” said Sharon Cheng, Sr. Market Analyst, Imaging Printing and Document Solution (IPDS), IDC Asia/Pacific. “The textile industry is gravitating towards sustainable solutions, prompted by the growing sustainability practices and commitments of the textile and garment brands in the market. This includes the development and adoption of pigment ink, that offers an eco-friendly option that aligns with the industry’s sustainability goals,” Cheng adds.

From the prospect of demand and user side in industry textile market, the first half of 2023 is the arms racing period for textile manufacturers to prepare the production agility of their own bargaining power when garment brands foresee to clear the stock and placing new order before end of this year.

“Since the stock clearance period of garment had been longer than pre-COVID under the impact of global inflation, which lower living goods consumptions, textile factories may need to deal with short and rush orders that challenge the tact time and agility of whole textile product lines. This drives digital textile printing facilities to show its advantage of lower running costs when changing product lines for short orders compared to traditional textile printing machines. Moreover, using pigment ink further speeds up this process because it can be directly used on more textile substrates, including natural and artificial materials, without much post-treatment work,” said Apples Lu, Research Manager, Imaging Printing and Document Solution (IPDS), IDC Asia/Pacific.

The risk of high asset cost with effort to transforming a new in-line production process is still the concern for textile factories to invest more digital textile printing facility as it is well-known as a high labor-intensive industry that slower the growing capability from traditional into digital. "However, there is a silver lining. Newly built factories in ASEAN countries, like India or Indonesia has a younger average country age, around 30 years old. This demographic is not only more receptive to digitalization processes but also brings a demographic dividend capital aligning with the coming trend of onshore business," Lu adds.

According to IDC Worldwide quarterly industrial printer tracker, Industrial textile Printer market in Asia Pacific except Japan will stop the continuous decline during COVID from 2021 to 2022 and rebound to have 10.9% growth in 2023, aligning with the eco-friendly trends in the world.

To know more about the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Industrial Printer Tracker, please contact Sharon Cheng at scheng@idc.com or Apples Lu at alu@idc.com. For media inquiries, please contact Miguel Carreon at mcarreon@idc.com  or Michael de la Cruz at mdelacruz@idc.com.

*Asia/Pacific excluding Japan

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IDC Tracker products provide accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries around the globe. Using proprietary tools and research processes, IDC's Trackers are updated on a semiannual, quarterly, and monthly basis. Tracker results are delivered to clients in user-friendly excel deliverables and online query tools.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,300 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDCAP and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights.



Coverage


Regions Covered

Asia Pacific


Topics Covered

Printers