Although demand for HCP supplies slumped across all segments, from consumers to corporate users, IDC research shows that the business segment saw the biggest decline, due to cautious IT spending and general business downsizing. As a result, the worst hit was laser technology, which is currently the most common print technology among companies. Overall, IDC estimates that sales of genuine OEM toner consumables in the first half of 2009 in EMEA were down 24.9% year on year, while genuine OEM inkjet consumables sales declined 19.2% year on year.
The aftermarket industry, however, which includes remanufacturers, vendors of newly built compatible cartridges, and refillers, benefited from the financial crisis, experiencing healthy sales growth. According to IDC data, thirdparty toner consumables shipments are estimated to have increased 5.1% year on year in the first half of 2009. The share of the toner aftermarket industry has grown from 29.6% in the first half of 2008 to 37.3% in the same period of 2009.
"The volume of thirdparty toner consumables varies widely across the EMEA region," said Consumables Program Manager Joanna Pupkowska, EMEA region. "The demand is higher in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa than in Western Europe. This is because of different price sensitivities and the structure of local offers, with, for example, Russia and Ukraine being heavily dominated by bulk products and refill kits."
Commenting on Western European markets, Senior Analyst Mario Lombardo added, "While price increases in Western Europe have helped some OEM vendors to defend revenues in the short term, it does appear that more users have switched to cheaper compatible supplies alternatives, and this is likely to impact OEMs' supplies revenues in the long run. In particular, OEM vendors with fewer service contracts in place are more likely to face increased competition coming from thirdparty consumables suppliers in the near future."
IDC expects the overall EMEA market for consumables to recover by 2010. Inkjet consumables are expected to grow 1.8% and toner consumables to grow 5.4% in the 2009-2013 forecast period, to reach over 314 million units and over 165 million units, respectively.
IDC's Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Semi-Annual Hardcopy Peripherals Consumables Tracker covers supplies used in singlefunction (SF) printers, printerbased multifunctional systems (MFPs), and SF digital copiers in 17 countries in the EMEA region (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary, Russia, Romania, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Israel).