Industry Milestone | Digital Printing Capacity Share Surpasses 50%, Officially Overtaking Traditional Offset Printing as the Mainstream

The latest printing industry research report released on July 15 sent a major industry signal: In 2026, the overall capacity share of domestic digital printing exceeded 50% for the first time, historically surpassing traditional offset printing and marking the official entry of China’s printing industry into a digitally-dominated era.

Globally, the digital printing market has exceeded USD 300 billion. Industrial inkjet technology stands as the core driver of industry growth, boasting key advantages including plate-free production, fast turnaround for small-batch orders, and variable data printing. The demand structure of the consumer market has shifted dramatically, with explosive growth recorded for small-batch, personalized and eco-friendly cultural paper products. Segments posting the sharpest order increases include on-demand cultural merchandise, cartoon stationery blind boxes, custom e-commerce color boxes, and seed paper gift printing.

From an industrial perspective, brands’ growing demand for multi-SKU trial sales and small-batch customized cross-border export orders has laid bare the drawbacks of traditional offset printing, namely high minimum order quantities and substantial plate-making waste. Digital printing is well-suited for small and medium batch orders with drastically reduced production waste. Paired with eco-friendly inks, seed paper and other sustainable materials, it fully complies with international environmental compliance standards for exported stationery and gift packaging. Currently, small and medium printing factories are ramping up investment in digital inkjet production lines, while large printing enterprises adopt a dual production model combining offset and digital printing. Digitization, sustainability and personalization represent an irreversible trend across the industry.