Current situation and Prospect of the hottest grav

The current situation and Prospect of gravure printing market in Europe

gravure printing, as a printing process, has always maintained its unique high-grade and high-quality, which is the main reason why it is the leading printing process for magazines, product catalogs and packaging products. Many well-known popular magazines in Germany, such as Spiegel, focus, stern, etc., use gravure printing. The IKEA catalogue with a worldwide circulation of more than 130 million also uses gravure printing. The research of GfK Market Research Institute shows that in the field of packaging and printing, gravure printing occupies the main market share in a variety of printing methods for most brand product enterprises. Although the competition between gravure printing, offset printing and flexo printing is still fierce, it is also an indisputable fact that gravure printing has recaptured part of the market while maintaining its inherent market

I. The Application of gravure printing in publishing and printing

according to the survey of European gravure printing enterprises by the European gravure Association (ERA), more than 60% of enterprises are dissatisfied with their current situation. The main reasons are: the current economic situation is poor, the benefits are declining, the equipment investment is too high, the competition is too fierce, and the price pressure is too high. This not only reflects the current economic weakness, but also reflects that the gravure industry is in continuous structural adjustment

a few years ago, most gravure printing enterprises were also affiliated to large publishing houses. Now, more and more gravure printing enterprises, as independent enterprises, participate in the market competition with wider scope and higher transparency. The accession of central and Eastern European countries to the EU market has accelerated this process. Large gravure printing enterprises actively improve their productivity and adjust prices while opening up markets and creating opportunities. In order to give full play to the synergy and geographical advantages, large gravure printing enterprises have joined forces and invested in the most popular wide width gravure printing equipment

the peak of gravure enterprise alliance is the merger of SCHLOTT sebaldus and broschek last year. The resulting new group SCHLOTT ranks third among European gravure enterprises after Arvato and Quebecor. Since Arvato, a subsidiary of bertelsm with an experimental speed of 300 ± 20mm/minann, and Springer contacted each other on the cooperation in gravure printing, the birth of another "super combination" has been heralded. If this combination is realized, it will form the largest gravure printing group in Europe, and its investment will exceed L8% of the existing gravure printing enterprises in Europe

the popularity of European gravure printing enterprises will also be further expanded, and the trend of alliance is far from over. Today, only three companies in North America control the gravure market in North America, while there are 25 independent gravure companies in Europe. Although Europe and North America cannot be compared due to political, cultural and language differences of about 300 (400) yuan per ton, the current situation in North America has indicated the trend of joint development of European gravure printing industry

in recent years, large enterprises have different problems in the investment of gravure printing equipment with a width of more than 4 meters, which has increased the competitive pressure in the European gravure printing market and promoted the development of collectivization. French lenglet company, which used to be engaged in offset printing, has introduced two gravure printing equipment with a width of 3.68 meters, and British polar group has also announced its intention to expand its gravure printing machine to 3.88 meters. What is more remarkable is that the maubelser gravure factory of Arvato company in Nuremberg plans to invest in the purchase of a KBA gravure press with a width of 4.32 meters at the beginning of 2005, making maul belser factory the first gravure printing enterprise in the world to use a gravure press with a width of more than 4 meters to print catalogues and magazines

whether investing in the latest gravure printing equipment or the necessary collectivization development will help gravure printing maintain and enhance its leading position in the magazine and catalogue printing market. Compared with rotary offset printing, gravure printing has made gratifying progress in adjusting its own structure to adapt to market development. For short gravure printing, limited by its production capacity, its competitiveness cannot be improved only from the innovation of prepress (relative to offset printing). If the economic situation improves, gravure printing can still meet its growing demand in the catalogue and magazine printing market

II. The application of gravure printing in packaging printing

in the past few years, gravure printing has decreased its market share in the field of packaging printing, and the development momentum of flexo printing is strong. However, recently, the packaging printing market has begun to turn to gravure printing. This phenomenon is known as the "Renaissance" of gravure printing, which is mainly reflected in the growing demand for gravure printing equipment, especially in Asia, southern Europe and Eastern European countries. Compared with European and American countries, personnel costs in some third world countries are relatively low, so gravure printing has also developed rapidly in the packaging market in these countries. In addition, while the Asian and southern European markets require high-end prints, they also have high requirements for the gloss effect of package printing appearance. These requirements are finally met through gravure printing

in Europe, gravure printing plays a leading role in the field of packaging and printing of famous brand goods, which has been confirmed by the survey of printing technology conducted by the Nuremberg Consumption Research Association (GfK). Because gravure printing has high printing quality stability and ink gloss, 80% of famous brand goods choose gravure printing technology. In order to stand out in the fierce market competition, famous brands in the field of food packaging have put forward higher requirements for design and printing images. Gravure printing can just ensure the best printing quality. For example, Tetra Pak can't ensure its high quality after converting its milk and juice packaging boxes to flexographic printing

III. The Application of gravure printing in decorative printing

another application field of gravure printing is decorative printing, which can be printed on the surface of materials with different coatings by gravure printing, such as the printing of floor leather and wallpaper. The global output of surface coating materials reached about 6billion square meters, with a growth rate of 55% from 1995 to 2001. The fastest growing is floor leather printing, whose worldwide production increased from 50million square meters in 1995 to 400million square meters in 2001. The annual output of decorative paper is 550000 tons, of which 46% are gravure printing

IV. gravure printing market outlook

like other industries and economic industries, gravure printing industry has also changed in the past few years. At the same time, gravure printing is also facing challenges and opportunities, such as: the internationalization process of gravure printing market will be accelerated; The collectivization process of gravure printing will continue: gravure printing will still occupy a leading position in catalogue, magazine and packaging printing due to its technical advantages and the introduction of modern equipment in the printing and prepress stages

in the field of packaging and printing, gravure printing will become the preferred printing method for famous brand products because of its high quality and high gloss effect. As flexographic printing no longer has obvious cost advantages in the range of high quality, the market share of gravure printing relative to flexographic printing will be increased

based on the background of the eastward expansion of the European Union (which will expand to Russia in the future), the entire gravure industry is bound to obtain various growth opportunities. Packaging gravure printing will maintain strong growth in Turkey, China and other countries with development potential. India, with a population of 200million, has a large affluent middle class, and its packaging gravure market is also remarkable

we firmly believe that gravure printing still has great market potential. Although Europe cannot adapt to the changing market due to the current economic weakness and non-human factors, gravure printing still has a good development prospect and will continue to expand