Global Thermal Paper Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Global Thermal Paper Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Thermal paper is a coated processed paper. Coatings are usually made of fluorescent dyes and color-developing agents. When heated, the fluorescent dyes and color-developing agents chemically react to produce color. The color of thermal paper will gradually fade after being placed for a long time and at high temperature. Thermal paper is generally used in conjunction with thermal printers, and is often used for labels and wrapping paper for objects because of its clear printing. The biggest advantage of Direct Thermal Paper over thermal transfer printing is that it does not require a carbon ribbon, the operation is simple, and the cost of consumables is low.

Market Overview:

The latest research study on the global Thermal Paper market finds that the global Thermal Paper market reached a value of USD 3052.6 million in 2022. It’s expected that the market will achieve USD 4087.25 million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.98% during the forecast period.

Production costs rise, market demand falls

In the short term, Covid-19 has increased the production cost of Direct Thermal Paper and reduced market demand. Due to the closed policies adopted by various countries, the containers in the ports cannot be circulated, resulting in insufficient supply of containers and a substantial increase in shipping costs. Poor transportation has led to rising raw material costs, and the government's social distancing policy in public places has forced factories to shut down. Faced with insufficient profits, thermal paper manufacturers have announced price increases. South Korea's Hansol Paper, Germany's Koehler Paper Group, and Spain's Lecta and Appvion in the United States have announced price increases of 8-10%. The boom in e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the demand for POS machines, and the stagnation of tourism and gambling has further contributed to the drop in the Direct Thermal Paper market revenue.

Boom in retail

The demand for Direct Thermal Paper in the retail industry mainly comes from POS terminals and commodity labels. POS terminals play a major role in the cashless transaction trend in the retail industry with their simple and reliable billing method, which is also driving the demand for Direct Thermal Paper. Thermally printed receipts can display product details to avoid duplication or omission, and can be read by humans and scanned by barcode scanners, reducing manual verification costs and error rates. Thermal printers that don't require ink cartridges are favored by retail store owners because of their lower cost and small footprint. Product labels are usually made of paper materials, which are easy to fit and can be updated at any time. The good bonding effect and short-term storage of thermal paper meet the needs of labels, and the clarity and aesthetics of thermal paper printing can be used for product information communication and packaging. So appreciated by the retail industry. The boom in the retail industry has increased the market revenue of Direct Thermal Paper.

Digitized transactions reduce demand for Direct Thermal Paper

The convenience of e-commerce has made more and more enterprises and consumers conduct online transactions, reducing the need for offline POS machines to issue receipts, and the market demand for Direct Thermal Paper has also decreased. Enterprises issue electronic receipts to consumers when completing transactions online. Templates for electronic receipts can be set up in the system in advance, and the quantity and amount can be entered when issuing, which improves the accuracy and billing efficiency. The automatic retention of electronic receipts is convenient for enterprises to quickly find out when consumers request after-sales, and can increase product promotion through additional marketing information. Therefore, electronic receipts will gradually replace paper receipts with the development of digital transactions, thereby reducing the market demand for Direct Thermal Paper.

Region Overview:

In global comparison, a significant portion of the revenue was generated in Asia Pacific (61.2% in 2021).

Company Overview

Oji is one of the major players operating in the Thermal Paper market, holding a share of 21.46% in 2022.

Oji

Oji Papéis Especiais is a company that produces and sells thermal and carbonless paper for the Brazilian and Latin American markets. The company offers a wide range of products, including thermal and carbonless paper for a variety of applications, as well as high-quality top-coated industrial papers. The business covers many types of paper and related products, such as: specialty paper, printing and writing paper, newsprint and magazine paper, packaging paper, business in the pulp industry, making it one of the largest producers in the world.

Hansol

Hansol's main businesses are paper products, electronics, chemicals, logistics, IT technology and solution services, home interiors and construction. Hansong Paper was the first company to introduce the ERP system of the Korean Paper Industry, and is playing its role as a leading paper manufacturer in Korea.

Segmentation Overview:

As for product types, the Non top-coated segment held the largest market share in 2021.

Top-coated

Top-coated Direct Thermal Paper usually has a protective coating to protect the printed image from environmental contamination. Has good adhesion and will not fade prematurely in contact with scotch tape. Commonly used for drug labels in the healthcare industry.

Non top-coated

Non top-coated Direct Thermal Paper has no protective coating, is lower cost, and is widely used in short-term barcodes such as retail store universal labels and taxi receipts.

Application Overview:

The market's largest segment by application is the segment POS Applications, with a market share of 46.83% in 2021.

POS Applications

Because of its simple and fast payment method, POS machines are widely used in daily trading places such as retail stores, gas stations, and supermarkets. It is also the main application industry of Direct Thermal Paper. The large transaction volume of daily consumer goods requires low cost and clear printing of receipts, so thermal paper is the best choice.

Lottery & Gaming

Direct Thermal Paper can also be used to print lottery tickets and gaming machine tokens. To keep pace with lottery updates and meet volume requirements, lottery operators prefer to use low-cost thermal paper for high-speed printing. Thermal printers have a small footprint and fewer failures. The reliability and ease of operation of printing equipment have promoted the use of thermal paper. Game machine operators use thermal paper to print game banknotes that cannot be stored for a long time, which can prevent game banknotes from being counterfeited.

Labels & Tickets

Direct Thermal Paper is widely used for labels in restaurants, grocery stores, bakeries and tickets for tourist attractions. The price of fast-moving consumer goods needs to be updated at any time, and the standardization and convenience of thermal paper can well meet the requirements. For tourist attractions, movie theaters and other places where tickets need to be purchased, color thermal paper plays an important role.

Key Companies in the global Thermal Paper market covered in Chapter 3:

Guanhao
Hansol
Ricoh
Jianghe
ChengMing
Mitsubishi Paper
Oji
Jujo Direct Thermal Paper
Appvion
Koehler

In Chapter 4 and Chapter 14.2, on the basis of types, the Thermal Paper market from 2018 to 2029 is primarily split into:

Top-coated
Non top-coated

In Chapter 5 and Chapter 14.3, on the basis of Downstream Industry, the Thermal Paper market from 2018 to 2029 covers:

POS Applications
Lottery & Gaming
Labels & Tickets
Others

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historic and forecast (2018-2029) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 8 to Chapter 14:

North America (United States, Canada)
Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden)
Asia Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia)
Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina)
Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa)