China: Growth According to Schedule
China's print industry is booming. Experts are expecting
double-digit growth until at least 2010. The main growth areas are
packaging and books for the domestic and export markets.
The print market in China has been dominated by a single trend in the past few years: growth. While the print industry in other parts of the world is consolidating, China's market continues to expand. Between 2001 and 2005, the industry grew by 14.6 percent. Around 3.4 million people currently earn their living in the country's 60,000 print shops. The Chinese government is expecting the domestic print industry to manufacture print products worth a total of 42.5 billion Euro by 2010.
This enormous growth is due to the country's steadily increasing gross domestic product, which rises by about ten percent a year. With increasing prosperity, domestic demand rises, including demand for print products such as newspapers, semi-commercials, packaging, commercial products, books and special print products. In 2004, nearly 9,500 magazines were produced with runs of 2.85 billion copies. The monthly magazine Duzhe sometimes sells ten million copies of a single issue. Still, other areas are underdeveloped. The country has only 2,000 newspapers and it publishes roughly 190,000 books per year.
The print market in China has been dominated by a single trend in the past few years: growth. While the print industry in other parts of the world is consolidating, China's market continues to expand. Between 2001 and 2005, the industry grew by 14.6 percent. Around 3.4 million people currently earn their living in the country's 60,000 print shops. The Chinese government is expecting the domestic print industry to manufacture print products worth a total of 42.5 billion Euro by 2010.
This enormous growth is due to the country's steadily increasing gross domestic product, which rises by about ten percent a year. With increasing prosperity, domestic demand rises, including demand for print products such as newspapers, semi-commercials, packaging, commercial products, books and special print products. In 2004, nearly 9,500 magazines were produced with runs of 2.85 billion copies. The monthly magazine Duzhe sometimes sells ten million copies of a single issue. Still, other areas are underdeveloped. The country has only 2,000 newspapers and it publishes roughly 190,000 books per year.
Export and Packaging Printing
A further growth motor is the strong export trade. China meanwhile manufactures 75 percent of all toys and 58 percent of all clothes sold worldwide. In addition, as foreign companies outsource their manufacturing to China, many companies want their corresponding instruction manuals, handbooks and packaging printed locally. As a result, packaging printing is the largest market segment, with 35 percent of the total market revenue. It is followed by book printing (25 percent), newspapers and semi-commercials (16 percent). Packaging for exported goods is used mostly for cigarettes, liquor, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
The printing industry in China is still booming even though China's main competitive advantage - its low labor costs - does not necessarily make a big cost difference for high-quality print products. Furthermore, higher-paid print shop staff in highly industrialized countries are often more productive than their Chinese counterparts.
A further growth motor is the strong export trade. China meanwhile manufactures 75 percent of all toys and 58 percent of all clothes sold worldwide. In addition, as foreign companies outsource their manufacturing to China, many companies want their corresponding instruction manuals, handbooks and packaging printed locally. As a result, packaging printing is the largest market segment, with 35 percent of the total market revenue. It is followed by book printing (25 percent), newspapers and semi-commercials (16 percent). Packaging for exported goods is used mostly for cigarettes, liquor, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
The printing industry in China is still booming even though China's main competitive advantage - its low labor costs - does not necessarily make a big cost difference for high-quality print products. Furthermore, higher-paid print shop staff in highly industrialized countries are often more productive than their Chinese counterparts.
Structural Policy Promotes Printing Strongholds
Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and opened its markets, an increasing number of international companies are investing in Chinese print shops. Of the 100 most profitable print shops in the country in 2005, some 62 were backed by foreign investors.
High growth rates in the print industry can also be traced to the industrial policies of individual provinces. The current, five-year plan (2006-10), the eleventh such plan, supports the formation of regional print centers outside the three existing print strongholds: the Greater Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze Delta and the Bohai Rim. In the Pearl River Delta, which is mainly in the Guangdong Province, home to Hong Kong and Macau, a large portion of the print industry is export-oriented and financed by foreign investors. This area and the Yangtze Delta (Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces) are the centers of the print industry. In both regions, modern large-scale print shops dominate. In addition, 12 state-subsidized training institutes for the print media industry help ensure well-skilled employees.
Catching Up on Production Conditions
The Chinese print industry boom has created many opportunities for foreign print shops. Due to the opening of the market, it is easier for them to invest in and form co-operations in China allowing them to participate in the growth. In the case of packaging and publications, there is no end to the boom in sight. However, China must catch up to industrialized countries by implementing better work and health guidelines as well as laws to protect the environment. Print shops are no exception here.
Chinese printers face another problem that they share with their competitors around the world: rising commodity prices and a shortage of resources, including paper. China is the second-largest consumer of paper in the world behind the United States, and it can no longer produce what it needs. In 2002, China imported 18.7 million tons of paper, cardboard and recycled paper. By 2010, China will likely buy a good 30 percent of its paper abroad. Already today, the cost of paper has risen noticeably.
How will Chinese print shops cope with future challenges? China's printers have surely internalized their famous philosopher's teachings: Confucius said, "People who do not plan for the future will have trouble near at hand."
Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and opened its markets, an increasing number of international companies are investing in Chinese print shops. Of the 100 most profitable print shops in the country in 2005, some 62 were backed by foreign investors.
High growth rates in the print industry can also be traced to the industrial policies of individual provinces. The current, five-year plan (2006-10), the eleventh such plan, supports the formation of regional print centers outside the three existing print strongholds: the Greater Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze Delta and the Bohai Rim. In the Pearl River Delta, which is mainly in the Guangdong Province, home to Hong Kong and Macau, a large portion of the print industry is export-oriented and financed by foreign investors. This area and the Yangtze Delta (Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces) are the centers of the print industry. In both regions, modern large-scale print shops dominate. In addition, 12 state-subsidized training institutes for the print media industry help ensure well-skilled employees.
Catching Up on Production Conditions
The Chinese print industry boom has created many opportunities for foreign print shops. Due to the opening of the market, it is easier for them to invest in and form co-operations in China allowing them to participate in the growth. In the case of packaging and publications, there is no end to the boom in sight. However, China must catch up to industrialized countries by implementing better work and health guidelines as well as laws to protect the environment. Print shops are no exception here.
Chinese printers face another problem that they share with their competitors around the world: rising commodity prices and a shortage of resources, including paper. China is the second-largest consumer of paper in the world behind the United States, and it can no longer produce what it needs. In 2002, China imported 18.7 million tons of paper, cardboard and recycled paper. By 2010, China will likely buy a good 30 percent of its paper abroad. Already today, the cost of paper has risen noticeably.
How will Chinese print shops cope with future challenges? China's printers have surely internalized their famous philosopher's teachings: Confucius said, "People who do not plan for the future will have trouble near at hand."
References |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
Study by Intergraf: Competitiveness of the European Graphic Industry |
|||
Global, Regional, Local
Heidelberg's 250 support centers in 170 countries and a team of over 7,500 sales staff, 3,800 of which are service technicians, mean we have the most compre- hensive sales and service network in the entire indus- try. Heidelberg generates 85 percent of its sales through its own sales companies and achieves around 87 percent of its sales abroad.
