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Driven by MFPs, EMEA Printer Hardware Shipments Stabilize

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According to market-research firm Context, shipments of printer hardware to EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) stabilised in first-quarter 2017, driven by shipments of multi-function devices (MFPs), and showing an increase in shipments of 1 percent year-on-year compared to a decline of 8 percent in first-quarter 2016.

“The Middle East and Africa (MEA) outperformed other regions with unit shipments increasing by +7 percent, following the double-digit decline last year,” commented Zivile Brazdziunaite, Imaging Market Analyst at Context. “All categories, except for laser MFPs, registered positive performance over the first quarter of 2017.”

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), although sell-in levels of laser hardware shrunk, overall sell-in levels increased by +19 percent due to the strong performance of inkjet technology devices. Despite a percentage point decline in printer hardware shipments to Turkey, because of weak performance of single-function devices, sell-in levels of laser  and inkjet MFP increased. Unit shipments to Saudi Arabia continued to decline, while sell-in levels to South Africa improved, registering an increase of +3 percent.

Sell-in to Western Europe (WE) accounts for almost 70 percent of all printer hardware shipments in EMEA and performance in first-quarter 2017 was flat – an improvement on the 6 percent decline in the same quarter last year. Unit shipments to most major WE countries increased, mainly driven by MFPs.

For France and the United Kingdom, the increase was a single percentage point and mainly down to inkjet technology devices, while laser hardware accounted for +2 percent year-over-year growth of unit shipments in Italy.

Spain and the Netherlands registered double-digit growth of printer hardware sell-in. In contrast, unit shipments to Germany continued to shrink and were down by 5 percent with the decline spread across all categories except laser MFPs: shipments of these during the quarter increased by +12 percent year-over-year.

Performance in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) mirrored that of WE, remaining flat over the quarter. Sell-in to Russia returned to growth of +4 percent year-over-year, driven by laser MFPs, while printer hardware shipments to Kazakhstan and Belarus continued to register strong performances mainly driven by laser technology devices. By contrast, sell-in levels to Poland and the Czech Republic declined.

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