Press manufactures are braced for the impact that trade tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump led US government might have.
There are no US litho press manufacturers, so no advantage to a domestic supplier. This is not the case in inkjet printing where HP and Kodak both produce continuous feed inkjet presses and Durst subsidiary Vanguard and EFI manufacture large format printers.
The US announced plans to apply a 25% levy on cars imported into the US, creating consternation for exporting countries and companies and leading to promises of retaliatory tariffs against US made vehicles. Now it has followed up with a price list of tariffs for countries exporting to the US.
The US is the world’s largest market for printing equipment with imports amounting to $1.38 billion in 2022 according to the UN’s Comtrade publication. Exports from the US amounted to $688 million in that year.
Koenig & Bauer in publishing its annual report last week highlighted the uncertainties hanging over the sector, stating: “In principle higher tariffs could exert pressure on demand in the US market and thus pose a challenge to the entire industry. The extent to which this decline can be offset cannot be conclusively assessed at this stage.”
The company reported revenues of €367.1 million ($398 million) from North America in 2024, amounting to 29% of revenue and an increase from €300.1 million ($325 million) received the year before.
Others would agree. Heidelberg has made no announcement. The company closes its 2024/25 financial year today and would not be expected to comment until the full-year result is published. However, as with Koenig & Bauer, the US is a key market for the company. It publishes figures for the entire Americas following a reshuffling on how it publishes sales data.
For the financial year ended in March 2024, sales from the Americas were €588 million ($638 million), a rise from €574 million ($622 million). The majority of this will come from North America, in the main the US. A year earlier sales to North America amounted to €505 million ($550 million).
Germany’s third press manufacturer Manroland Sheetfed has less exposure to the US market thanks to a strategy of targeting expanding markets in Asia and South America. Owner Langley Holdings does not publish detailed figures for the company. The Langley Group racked sales of €140.9 million ($153 million) in 2024, slightly above the €136.2 million ($147 million) achieved the year before. The German companies as part of the EU will face a tariff of 20% on exports to the US.
The imposition of tariffs will also affect Japanese manufacturers with Japan suffering the imposition of a 24% on goods exported to the US. RMGT, which has enjoyed a good run with installations in recent years, does not break out sales by geography. Komori on the other hand is more transparent. North America is an important market, one that generated sales of ¥18.3 billion ($122 million), up from ¥17.6 billion ($117 million).
Nor is the potential impact restricted to litho presses. Much digital equipment is imported from Japanese or Chinese suppliers. Canon in its Q3 financial results notes that it enjoyed “strong sales of the imagePress V series and other products mainly in the US”. This would be under jeopardy if widespread tariffs include printing equipment from Japan.
Other countries are also affected. Israeli goods now incur a 17% tariff. Within print this covers HP Indigo, Scodix and Landa Digital Printing. The tariffs will not help attempts to reorganise Highcon’s debts.
European papermakers group Cepi has already called on the EU to ”respond quickly, vigourously and in an appropriate manner” to any imposition of tariffs. It says that Europe imports 900,000 tonnes of pulp and 600,000 tonnes of paper and board from the US while exporting 1,600,000 tonnes of paper and board and 350,000 tonnes of pulp. As well as paper for print and packaging, hygiene products are traded across the Atlantic.
The immediate impact of the imposition of tariffs on imported equipment will be to increase prices and by conventional thinking this will depress demand as printers delay decisions to invest. The purpose of Trump’s tariffs is two-fold. One aim is to encourage US consumers and companies to buy American goods, which is difficult in printing with no litho and only limited press production. The other is to raise revenue for the federal government.
