3D Printing Market in Africa and Middle East to Outperform Global Growth Rate

According to the Worldwide Semiannual 3D Printing Spending Guide by market analysis company IDC, the spending on 3D printing in the Middle East and Africa market will increase at a CAGR of 30.8% from 2015 to 2019, outperforming the worldwide growth rate of 26.9%

IDS expects the market to increase from $ 0.47 billion in 2015 to $ 1.3 billion by 2019. Their research indicates that the market is ready for a greater mainstream adoption of additive manufacturing technologies in a wide range of industries.

“It is clear that 3D printing offers considerable growth potential in the Middle East and Africa region,” said Martin Kuban, a senior research analyst with IDC Manufacturing Insights. “The technology will dynamically proliferate across multiple manufacturing industries over the coming years, and we are already seeing significant interest from manufacturers in the GCC countries looking to utilize 3D printing technology. Aside from some of the more obvious applications within the automotive and aerospace industries, we expect to see some innovative and potentially transformative 3D printing deployments among medical suppliers, electronics manufacturers, and tools and components manufacturers.”

IDS also sees increasing adoption among oil and gas companies in the region, that use rapid prototyping for parts at their sites that are often situated in isolated locations. “This limits downtime and reduces costs, which is particularly important in this current environment of low oil prices,” explains Ashwin Venkatchari, IDC senior program manager for imaging devices and document solutions in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey.

Additionally, the healthcare industry is one of the fastest adopters, as 3D printing technology often improves the patient’s lives drastically by providing customised solutions.