Sign-ups are growing, with many leading international brands already on board. Against the backdrop of a market that is showing positive signs, Print4All has the support of leading national and international players from the entire supply chain.
The next edition of Print4All, the exhibition dedicated to the world of printing, will be held next year at Fiera Milano from 27-30 May, 2025. In just three editions, Print4All has confirmed itself as a reference point for the sector, thanks to the renewed confidence shown by companies and associations.
Organised by Fiera Milano and promoted by ARGI and ACIMGA – the two leading Italian associations in the printing and converting sectors – the exhibition has already attracted some of the most important companies in the market. Numerous stakeholders from the entire supply chain, including Federazione Carta e Grafica, Assografici and its Specialization Groups, TAGA Italia, Fespa Italia Associazione, and international bodies such as the European Rotogravure Association (ERA) and Global Print, are in fact supporting Print4All in terms of expertise and planning, helping to make it an important platform for training and information, where you can not only discover the latest market news, but also discuss future challenges and acquire practical tools to remain competitive.
The Italian Market
Contrary to other industrial sectors, the scenario of the Italian market for printing, packaging, and converting machinery manufacturers is showing positive and resilient signs in the complex period we are currently experiencing. Despite overcoming the shortage of components, energy costs are still high and supply chain disruptions remain.
According to ACIMGA, the sector recorded a turnover of €3,050 million in 2023, marking a 3.6% increase compared to 2022. The growth was driven by domestic deliveries (+4.8%) and an increase in exports by almost €50 million (+2.7%) compared to the previous year to reach just under €1,800 million, close to the record level of 2018. The United States is Italy’s top export market, while the European Union remains the sector’s main destination, with an increase of 15.1% in 2022.
Pre-forecasts for the first quarter of 2024 and forecast data for the current year are also positive, showing signs of continued overall growth with an increase in exports.
While packaging printing is doing well in Italy, the commercial, graphics, and stationery segments (offset and digital printing machines) are experiencing instability.
According to ARGI, the surge in sales in 2022 was heavily influenced by the Industry 4.0 tax incentives, and was itself the cause of a rebound in 2023. Offset machine sales figures in 2023 were much higher than in 2018, 2019, and 2021, while revenue growth in the three-year period (2021-23) was 60% higher than in the previous three-year period. For digital printing machines, however, the decline compared to 2022 was just under 10%. However, it is interesting to note that the decline in turnover from the sale of machinery (usually referred to as ‘non-recurring’) was only just over 2%, while ‘recurring’ turnover (from services and consumables), suffered the most, down 15%.
The market for digital label printing machines, on the other hand, has been growing steadily at around 8% year-on-year for the past three years. In particular, the market segment for machines with print speeds in excess of 20 metres per minute continues to grow.
Finally, plate printing did not experience the recovery that other market segments did after the 2020 slump. On the contrary, the steady decline in the number of square metres of printing plates sold continued, indicating a decline in print volumes that continues to affect the commercial printing market in particular.
Print4All 2025: Identity & Guiding Principles
By once again offering an innovative format that goes beyond the traditional segment of the printing industry, Print4All 2025 reaffirms its identity as an integrated platform dedicated to the industry and combining a number of characteristics: a showcase for solutions and innovations based on the companies’ offers; a laboratory of ideas, aiming to look at the potential of the market and its main areas of development, with a supply chain approach; and finally a home for content, with a strong commitment to discussions and professional development.
There are three guiding principles around which Print4All 2025 is being developed: Convergence, Experience, and Networking.
Convergence refers to the new opportunities that are opening up today for different print applications to intersect to create new solutions and new business opportunities, as well as between technologies and new techniques.
Print4All 2025 will also be an Experience. Emerging topics and new challenges in the sector will be the focus of themed areas dedicated to specific market segments, for in-depth discussion that will accompany visitors throughout the exhibition.
And finally, Print4All 2025 provides unlimited opportunities for Networking. The exhibition provides business opportunities and a common meeting ground for the entire supply chain, including manufacturers, printers, communication agencies, designers, and brand owners.
Print4All will continue its participation in The Innovation Alliance from 27-30 May, 2025, where four events come together to talk about the best instrumental mechanics and discuss the great challenges facing professionals across the entire supply chain. Print4All will take place alongside IPACK-IMA, Green Plast, and INTRALOGISTICA ITALIA.
Print4All provides a great opportunity to discover machines that manage different stages of industrial production processes, combined with high levels of innovation, and significant investments in research and development, especially in the light of the major changes that are affecting every sector.
A Three-dimensional Event
Print4All 2025 will be a unique opportunity to explore the market segments that represent not only the greatest progress, but also the greatest potential for growth and development. New materials, corrugated cardboard, and the most original solutions for greener printing will be the focus of the exhibition, thanks to three areas that provide a vertical insight into the sectors they represent.
PrintMAT: In a market context where brands increasingly need to express uniqueness and distinct, personal values, materials and media play a key role. PrintMAT, an area that has been present at previous editions but which is always innovating thanks to the wide range of solutions and materials on offer, will showcase the most innovative solutions in the constant search for the “wow” factor. Here you will find outstanding print applications, practical examples of how the innovative combination of new technologies, materials, and substrates – traditional and non-traditional – and inks can achieve completely new results and bridge the gap that often exists between creative idea and realisation. The aim of PrintMAT is to demonstrate how printing can go “beyond” to become communication, packaging, and identity itself for the brand that wants to communicate its excellence and differentiate itself.
Corrugated Experience: Not just a vertical sector, Corrugated Experience is a real themed journey amongst companies that, thanks to their experience and the technological avant-garde they have achieved, will look at innovation in the corrugated cardboard sector, an important market segment with constant growth that shows no signs of stopping. In recent years the sector has been characterised by a strong innovative drive, demonstrating an evolutionary capacity with high added value, which is most pronounced in Europe and Italy, geographical areas that are home to the main manufacturers of machinery and systems for the production, converting, and printing of corrugated cardboard, whose R&D activities are world class.
Green Printing: Sustainability is an increasingly important dimension for the converting and printing supply chain, in a vision that encompasses the entire lifecycle of the printed product, from production to distribution to disposal. This is why Print4All is dedicating a special part of the exhibition – the Green Printing area – to green opportunities, aimed at companies that can help the printing world in its ecological transition and provide a qualified showcase for the most innovative solutions to reduce environmental impact.
The Roadmap to Print4All 2025
Launched over a year ago, the roadmap to the exhibition, through participation in the industry’s key events, is a unique opportunity not only to meet the market and its supply chain on an ongoing basis, and to understand their needs and urgencies, but also to begin a listening process that will culminate in the education and training events at the show.
The next step is the Print4All Conference 2024, which will be held on 11 July, 2024, at the elegant Villa Quaranta, located in the heart of Valpolicella, the famous winemaking region. The roadmap’s most important event of the year, the conference will be an opportunity to listen to the voice of market experts; but above all to share the vision of manufacturers and brand owners through an open exchange of ideas and experiences on best practices, new trends, and emerging technologies. It is aimed at all communities in the printing and converting industry.
The title, ‘Future Print: supply chain outlooks and innovation for the printing industry of tomorrow’, summarises the day’s objective. Starting with an analysis of the innovations and technological advances introduced to the market in recent months, a broader scenario will be sketched out, leaving plenty of room for interdisciplinary debate throughout the supply chain, to consider the future directions in all areas of the printing industry, from converting to packaging, from labelling to commercial and industrial printing.
For details on Print4All 2025, log on to www.print4all.it/en
