By Ed Avis
Are you sitting on some used large-format copiers that you mothballed when China stopped buying them in August? You might want to think about trying to sell them again, but don’t expect to get top dollar.
“The China market for used wide format printing equipment continues to be very volatile,” says Tom McNew, owner of Digital ES, one of the U.S. companies that buys used equipment here and resells it to Chinese buyers. “There is little stability over the long haul in pricing.”
The problem started because Chinese authorities cracked down on importers, evidently because of taxation issues. (Read our original article about the issue by clicking here.) At that time, some of the importers were arrested, and ships containing copiers were unable to unload. That severely disrupted the market for used copiers – both large and small-format – because China has been consistently the biggest market for that equipment.
In the months since, the situation has cooled down somewhat and the authorities have implemented some new rules about what can be imported.
“As for the Chinese market, the new regulation policy on used copiers is officially in effect by now,” according to David Ma, president of Kingnote, another U.S.-based firm that buys used copiers and sells them to Chinese buyers. “Used copiers with speed below 60 copy-per-minute are no longer allowed to be imported into China. Used industrial grade photo-copy equipment, including wide formats and higher speed copiers, is not limited by the new regulation.”
However, prices have not fully recovered, both Ma and McNew confirm.
“On the U.S. market, as we continue to buy retiring wide formats, we have noticed used wide format prices here have come back to an equilibrium level,” Ma says. When asked to clarify what “equilibrium level” means, he said: “Prices are moving back. Some do return to where they were, some don't. ‘Equilibrium’ is a price point where equipment owners agree to sell, and buyers accept the purchase.”
McNew says prices are not steady yet.
“Everything is ‘let's make a deal,’ he says. “There has been a small amount of comeback in the market as a result of goods being flushed out of the marketing chain. Regardless, of day-to-day developments, it is our understanding there will not be any real resolution of the ‘China situation’ until they open all of their ports back up for trade in used copying equipment.”