- Strong recovery in the US will benefit trading partners:
- Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean
- Ad spending to grow, print is stabilizing but requires millennial-friendly personalization and outdoor display; favoring digital print solutions
- Converting will lead packaging and label sectors
Graphics of the Americas (GOA) today releases The Printing Industry in Latin America in 2016: The New Rules. Commissioned by GOA and produced by Carlos Silgado, one of Latin America's most prominent and expert writers, The Printing Industry... not only details country-specific economic projections and their causes; it includes real-world observations and expectations of several graphic arts associations, printers, and other experts across the region. The result is a mandate outlining the types of services graphic arts companies must offer to supply the print applications that are stable or growing.
Several Spanish-language sessions that correlate with the report's findings are taking place at GOA 2016, February 16-18 in Miami Beach, Florida. These, as well as many of the planned English-language sessions, will give attendees critical information that will help them compete in the Latin American graphic arts markets moving forward.
"We have found Carlos Silgado's work in aggregating, analyzing, and summarizing material from a variety of sources -- from the IMF[1] through to the large associations and printers themselves -- to be accurate beyond compare," George Ryan, GOA President, says. "Carlos' work has proven essential to many, not the least of which are the speakers at the GOA Conference, which coincides with the Expo."
The Latin American Applications of Tomorrow
In an excerpt from the report, Silgado says,
"The printing industry must recognize that it has entered a new stage of development characterized by changes in the industrial structure. The printing industry needs to redefine its value proposition in several markets and niches."
Growth, according to the report, will be in ad spending, personalization, outdoor advertising and specialization in converting packaging.
GDP and Print Growth Expected in 2016
While Brazil will have the advantage of the 2016 Olympics to offset an expected -1 and -2% GDP decline, Central America is expecting 4.2% growth, up from 4% in the last two years, and 3% growth in printing expected. Marco Antonio Jurado, production manager at multinational, integrated packaging provider SigmaQ Litozadik - which has 10 factories in Central America -- tells Silgado that his company's forecasts indicate "...growth potential of (the) folding packaging industry is estimated at 15%[2], mainly in the spirits, oral care and medicine segments."
Mexico may see 1-2% printing growth, while Colombia, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) and the Dominican Republic will grow above the average for the region.
Argentina and Mexico, which have invested in the Brazil Olympics, will benefit; but the former has not reported printing growth figures in a year the IMF expects a -.7% decrease in the GDP.