Introduction

The fastest growing region in the world is clearly Eastern Europe. The printing industry in the developed world is in decline as is illustrated below where North America (down
0.1%) Western Europe (down 1.1%) and Australasia (down 3.6% in current Dollar terms by 2011). Printing industry performance in the developing regions will grow much faster and Eastern Europe will have the fastest growth over the 2009—2014 time frame.
The collapse of the communist system in the late 1980s gave the Central and Eastern European Countries the opportunity to move from centrally planned economies to market-oriented economies, and ultimately to join and gain access to the European Union. The fall of the iron curtain opened doors to a market of more than 350 million people. Free market principles have been embraced ever since by the local economies and nowadays this dynamic market is full of opportunities.

Market Potentials  

The Eastern European market for print amounted to US$18.7 billion in 2009, just over 10.9% of the size of the Western European market. In contrast to the Western European market, however, future demand for print will grow at a significantly faster rate in Eastern Europe, increasing by 45.2%, while the forecast for Western Europe is to remain flat, to reach US$27.1 billion by 2014. Even by 2014, however, Eastern Europe will still be about 60% the size of Latin America, the next largest regional marketplace for print. Today, the U.S market share in Eastern Europe is only about 10%. Most of the imported machinery and equipment is sourced from Europe, especially Germany

Business Environment

Countries in Central/Eastern Europe have an attractive business climate for investments because of a more liberalized political climate and the import of magazines and other publications from Western Europe that has created increased demand of printed material in their own countries.

Literacy rates are the highest in the world and they are even higher than US. The relocation of Western European printing capacity to Eastern European countries has already started and will grow as Western European companies take advantage of the availability of an experienced and skilled printing workforce, generally operating at much lower cost.

The Internet is available, used and growing in all countries of the region, but it is not widespread. A major barrier to Internet usage is the practice of per-minute charges for local calls. The expense of connectivity places the Internet out of the reach of many residential users. Generally, broadband access is still in its infancy in the region, so electronic media will be slower to develop in the region, and therefore we see a great potential of printed media in these countries. Also, there is a noticeable growth in print based advertising, most notable in the use of direct mail, because mailing databases and distribution facilities improve.

Contact for Central & Eastern Europe

Leonid Shakhmundes
E-mail: shakhmundes@yahoo.com

Ph: 617.238.4222