Esko is confident its sales in the MEA will surge this year after growing by more than 20% in 2012, says Johan Bastiaen, sales account manager Middle East & Africa. Defying global recession, Esko’s regional market has soared in line with vibrant regional economies, he told Packaging MEA.
“Everybody had certain expectations about Drupa, though we tried to limit the expectations due to the crisis that was going on,” he said.
“During Drupa we saw that the crisis did not affect us too much – 2008 Drupa for us was a record Drupa, and in 2012 we went way over it, way over the 2008 Drupa and way over the expectations that we had. It hasn’t stopped over there. It has continued to grow in 2012 with double digits – more than 20% – even in the emerging markets such as Africa and Middle East.”
For Johan Bastiaen, healthy regional markets reflect both economic trends and changing attitudes.
“The main reason is that, first of all, the market is developing and people are getting more aware of what’s happening,” he said.
“The population is growing. Young people are travelling more and getting more knowledge. In general, different countries are doing better.”
A positive trend is apparent not only in North Africa or the Middle East but throughout Africa, he added.
“It is not one particular country and not only about the graphic arts business, but countries like Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East are booming. Countries like Kenya and Nigeria have great potential.”
But he acknowledged that the UAE markets could be saturated for some products, even though demand in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East remains strong.
Esko aims to overcome competition in the region by providing integrated solutions, he added.
“Esko wants to be a solution provider linking the different parts together,” he said.
“That’s why we have one part of the business being the hardware, one part the software and one part the services and we link them together for the customer.”