Printer toner sales fell 12 per cent year on year in 2009, with the only bright spot being a steady rise in sales of colour toner, according to IDC.

The analyst firm found that sales of colour toner across EMEA rose 2.7 per cent year on year, counter to the overall collapse of the print and consumables market seen last year.

“Demand for colour toner was kept afloat by a number of factors,” said IDC in a statement.

“Ongoing colour adoption in the office continued despite the economic slowdown, and many businesses are believed to have used extensively internal production of colour marketing collaterals during the economic slowdown to reignite sales.”

OEMs with a high proportion of colour in their toner consumables offering did somewhat better than rivals, especially as colour lasers are increasingly being adopted through managed services contracts. There is also relatively little competition from third-party providers, according to IDC senior analyst Mario Lombardo.

“Colour toner third-party providers have come a long way in recent years, developing decent-quality products,” he said.

“However, complexity of compatible colour toner development and high investments required in the process make the majority of third-party providers still focus on low-end monochrome products.”

Overall, the toner consumables market in EMEA is expected to recover this year, with a 3.4 per cent compound annual growth rate predicted until 2014. Colour is 25 per cent of the total toner market, but this share is tipped to expand.

“We expect the overall colour toner market to be further boosted by growing availability of cheaper compatible colour offerings,” added Joanna Pupkowska, EMEA programme manager for consumables at IDC.

“Naturally, this trend will also be strongly triggered by a general transition to colour devices in office space.”