People from the Yangon printing industry inspect a 12-foot “Infinity” printer made by China’s Fei Yuan Co., Ltd, during a signing ceremony at Sedona Hotel in Yangon on August 18 to mark local firm Golden Hero Co.’s position as the sole distributor of Fei Yuan printers in Myanmar. Pic: Lwin Maung Maung

WITH advertisements extending their reach across Myanmar and a proliferation of billboards competing for open space in urban centres, times are good for the commercial printing industry. And chances are the technology behind those good times is a printer made in China.

“Altogether, about 90 percent of the Myanmar market has been taken over by Chinese made printers,” said U Aik Ti, managing director of Golden Hero Co., Ltd, which last month signed a deal to be the sole Myanmar distributor for leading Chinese printer maker Fei Yuan Co.

Fei Yuan holds the lion’s share of the market, according to a nationwide survey conducted in July by Golden Hero Co., thereby putting the Yangon-based company at the top of the pile of Myanmar printer suppliers.

According to the survey, there are 77 inkjet printing firms in Myanmar: 43 in Yangon, 22 in Mandalay, and 12 spread across the country, including in Taunggyi, Pyinmana, Magwe and Myingyan.

The survey found that 44 of the commercial inkjet printers being used – or 68 percent of the total – were made by Fei Yuan.

U Aik Ti said Golden Hero had be surprised to find such a large printing industry in Myanmar, almost exclusively devoted to advertising.

Other printing firms in Yangon have suggested there could be up to 100 printing businesses in the country using machines that can print vinyl and other materials up to 16 feet wide.

Xiao Min Fu, general manager of Kun Min Camry Technology Co., a Yunnan-based firm that supplies Fei Yuan products solely to Myanmar, said demand for printers in Myanmar had proved to be unexpectedly high.

“In January this year, we set a target of selling 10 machines within two years, but after six months we had already sold 17,” Xiao told The Myanmar Times.
“We never expected we would sell so many – it’s nearly 700 percent over our target. So we’re optimistic about the future trend for Myanmar.”

The rise in commercial printing, which has accompanied significant growth in advertising over the past four years, has come at the expense of many local artists whose paintings once graced shop windows and walls across the country but are now largely restricted to ageing cinemas.

According to a study by Myanmar Marketing Research Development (MMRD), Myanmar’s advertising industry spent more than US$17 million on adverts in 2006.

Of this, $1.1 million was on billboards, MMRD media assistant manager Daw Lay Lay Win said.

Benefiting from much of this spending is Fei Yuan Co., which has been supplying Myanmar with printers for the past three years.

U Tin Htwe, owner of Yangon-based Tun San Digital Printing Co., Ltd, said American, Japanese, Italian and Israeli commercial printers are also used in Myanmar but China’s Fei Yun printers were quickly becoming the local industry’s top choice despite, he said, inferior printing quality.

“There are 15 or 16 different types China-made printers in Myanmar. Fei Yuan’s models Infinity and Phaeton are the ones most commonly used here,” he said.

Chinese printers were cheaper than even secondhand models from other countries, he added. New 12-foot Fei Yuan printers cost K3-3.5 million; about half the price of other brands.

Chinese inks were also cheaper, at about K80,000 per bottle compared with K150,000 a bottle for Western brands.

However, U Tin Htwe said that whereas vinyl billboards made using Chinese ink may fade after seven months, those made using more expensive ink can keep vivid colours for at least a year.

“As such, our clients prefer the latter. But significantly lower prices are still leading people to use Chinese products,” he said.

U Aung Kyaw Tun, advertising manager for Greenline Myanmar Group (GMG) Co., Ltd, said another drawback of Fei Yuan models was their inability to print on canvas.

“We have many clients around the country involved in mobile, traditional theatre groups. They prefer their big placards to be printed on the canvas rather than vinyl or stickers,” he said.