Fakes impacting HP

Hewlett-Packard has said 60% of the refill products used in printers across East Africa are not genuine - a situation that is impacting sales heavily, says NetworkWorld.

HP East Africa made the revelation as the company rolled out printing technology targeting the multimillion-dollar regional graphic arts market.

Charles Munyororo, the HP GM for the imaging and printing group for English-speaking Africa, said the products most affected are laser and ink cartridges used in printing machines, of which he says only 30% to 40% are genuine.

According to a new study, digital print is set to lead the professional print market by 2020 with trends continuing towards short-run volumes and print-on-demand, says printweek.com.

The Canon-commissioned "Insight Report: Digital Printing Directions" interviewed 600 printers and predicted good news for small print businesses due to advances in workflow and technology.

It claimed copy shops and quick printers will evolve their range of services to adapt to a new digital age. 2020 is also pinned as the year that print runs finally end their decline with threats posed by global competition and electronic media, including the Internet, "finally reach their end".

The Printing and Printing Equipment Industries Association of China (PEIAC) has said it expects Chinese printing to develop rapidly with an expected annual rate of 8% in the coming years, says printweek.com.

The national trade association held a conference at Drupa on 2 June, where it highlighted print trends: digitising, diversification, speed to market and networking.

Wang Demao, vice-chairman of PEIAC, said he expected to see rapid development in digital and inkjet printing in China. For over a decade, he said, Chinese print had been experiencing a tremendous period of growth, peaking at around 10% annually.