Recovery of 3D printing market driven by China and Desktop 3D Printer Shipments

The company CONTEXT recently published its latest market study on the global 3D printing market. It states that the Chinese and Desktop 3D Printer markets are leading the way for a longer U-shaped recovery of the global sector. According to the firm, there has been a 24% increase in industrial machinery delivered to China, and a 68% increase worldwide in the shipment of desktop 3D printers during second quarter. This is rather reassuring news in the current economic context, especially considering that a year ago hardware revenues has fallen by 27% already.

If you remember, CONTEXT had already published a first report following the COVID-19 crisis, a somewhat pessimistic report since it showed a 4% overall drop in shipments of 3D printers worldwide in 2020. It looks like this drop does not concern China or desktop machines. Remember that the company classifies 3D printers according to four categories: Industrial (+$100K), Design (between $20K and $100K), Professional (between $2.5K and $20K) and Personal (less than $2.5K, excluding 3D printer kits). Therefore, these good news can be explained by China’s economic recovery more generally, but also by the change in workplace habits which has pushed some people to invest in an office solution.

China comes back online

On the other hand, CONTEXT points out that shipments of industrial and design machinery have slowed down in the Western market, with a large part of the industries now at standstill. Investments in equipment are no longer a priority, leading to a drop in sales of 3D printers. And yet, in China, the situation seems to be different: according to the study, many Chinese suppliers said they have not only seen their shipments increase compared to the first quarter, but have also seen even higher shipment rates than a year ago. Chris Connery, Vice President of Global Research at CONTEXT, explains: “As China came back online in Q2 2020, so too did demand for Industrial printers. While overall shipments improved slightly from Q1 to Q2 thanks mostly to a bounce back in China, they remained very low in Western markets resulting in total shipments in the class down -38% from a year ago.”