Printer Shipment Suffers Double-digit Decline in North Africa

The North African hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market shrank 16.1% year-on-year (YoY) in volume and 4.7% YoY in value during the fourth quarter of 2014.

As was reported by IDC, the Algerian and Moroccan country markets performed particularly poorly, as budget cuts hindered IT spending by government agencies and large enterprises. The shipments to Morocco fell 28.4% YoY in volume and 23.6% YoY in value during the quarter, while Algeria suffered a downturn of 5.6% YoY in volume and a slight increase in value of 5.4% YoY. But the Tunisian market saw a slight upturn, up 2.7% YoY in volume and 8.8% YoY in value, which is attributed to the fact that several large public and private sector deals were relaunched following the completion of the country’s parliamentary elections.

The inkjet segment suffered the biggest declines in the fourth quarter, with shipments down 58.4%, 43.0%, and 7.4%YoY, respectively, in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. . Morocco and Algeria posted value declines of 44.2% and 58.3% YoY, while inkjet revenues in Tunisia went up 42.6% YoY.”The main reason for the inkjet decline, particularly in Morocco, was a shift away from entry-level devices, which impacted overall shipment volumes,” says Imane Belhabes, a research analyst for imaging, printing, and document solutions at IDC North and Francophone Africa. “Some vendors are changing their strategies in terms of product focus by pushing their more profitable devices in place of entry-level volume inkjet printers. This explains the high growth rates registered in the mid and high-end segments, and gives an indication of vendors’ go-to-market plans for 2015.”

The color laser shipments decreased 9.1% YoY to total 4,900 units, although the value was up 26.6% YoY to $6.6 million, driven by the remarkable performance of the Tunisian and Algerian markets, which expanded 23.3% and 19.8% YoY in volume, respectively. Morocco registered 28.3% YoY downturn in shipments. Revenues, however, were up 57.1% YoY.

The monochrome laser market recorded a flat performance in volume but an 8.9% YoY decline in value. While Algeria saw its shipments shrink 23.1% YoY for the quarter, Morocco and Tunisia fared much better, with unit growth of 13.3% and 12.2% YoY, respectively. The decline in Algeria was mainly due to weak tendering activity in the country, especially from the government, which is the primary source of demand when it comes to low-end mono laser printers.
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