Commercial printing industry picking up February 28, 2011 08:53 by Chris Rails

A business can usually afford to spend a little less on HP ink cartridges and printers in difficult economic times. After all, how many emails and memos does a firm that operates out of an office really need to print off day after day?

But for commercial printing ventures, such as graphic arts companies, equipment such as HP printer ink is an essential expense that they cannot shirk on.

Therefore, it's fair to say that the amount the industry spends on these resources can reflect conditions in the sector as a whole.

A recent poll by Semper International revealed that supply costs are a big concern to a large number of printing businesses.

Indeed, more than one in four respondents flagged this up as their main worry during the final quarter of 2010.

However, figures also showed that nearly three-quarters of the companies surveyed made a profit between October and December last year.

This is 13 per cent more than in the previous three-month period, which suggests that conditions in this particular market are getting better.

Whether this translates into a huge surge in demand for resources such as HP printer ink in the next few months remains to be seen.

But various pieces of data are all pointing in the direction of an upturn in the near future.

For instance, HP recently reported that in 2010, its commercial printing hardware shipments went up by 19 per cent.

This is no small increase - and subsequent figures from the manufacturer indicate this trend is spilling over into 2011.

Its latest trading statement showed that in the three months to January 31st 2011, sales of commercial printer hardware units were up by one-third year-on-year.

This all suggests that demand for HP printer ink and related products across the printing industry is likely to hold up at the very least - and possibly grow further.

The manufacturer isn't simply sitting back and waiting for this to happen, however.

It is still rolling out and showcasing its latest products to tap into this lucrative market and encourage firms to upgrade their printing equipment.

Only recently, it staged its annual Digital Solutions Cooperative Dscoop6 HP users' group to demonstrate how print service providers could benefit from switching to new digital devices.

Christopher Morgan, senior vice president of HP's graphic solutions business, said its products can offer them "more productivity, more value and better profit opportunities".

"The success of the Dscoop conference reflects this positive momentum in the transformation from analogue to digital printing," he added.