Label and packaging printer shipments grew in Q2

New data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Industrial Printer Tracker shows that worldwide shipments slowed slightly year over year in the second quarter of 2021 (2Q21).

While most segments showed a decline, label & packaging printer shipments grew by more than 27% in the quarter. This is an improvement from Q1, in which the segment declined 7%.

"Overall large format and industrial printer shipments declined slightly – less than 3% – in the second quarter, largely due to the presence of the COVID-19 delta variant and ongoing supply chain issues," said Tim Greene, research director, Hardcopy Solutions at IDC. "While these factors slowed the recovery that we had seen for three consecutive quarters, some segments still showed excellent growth in Q2 2021."

Large format printer shipments were down 2.4% in Q2/21 compared to the first quarter but were still well above 90,000 units for the quarter on a worldwide basis. Direct-to-garment and direct-to-shape printer shipments declined by 7.6% and 5.0% respectively after a very strong first quarter. Industrial textile printer shipments declined 26.3% in Q2 compared to Q1.

Regionally, shipments in China showed a modest sequential growth of 3% in Q2, continuing its expansion since Q1/2020.

Total shipments in Japan meanwhile were down nearly 25% compared to Q1/21 as the country continues to deal with the pandemic.