Press Releases

ICMA Global Market Survey Indicates Card Manufacturing Industry Remains Resilient

19.4 Billion Cards Were Manufactured Globally in 2008

PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ—October 26, 2009—The International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA), a global non-profit association for card manufacturers, personalizers, issuers and suppliers, announced the results of its annual Global Market Survey. The survey measures the number of cards manufactured by geographic and market segment volumes in units and dollars.

The survey measured results from 2008 and revealed factors, such as the recession, have affected the global card market. However, 19.4 billion cards were manufactured globally, indicating a slight increase of .06 percent over 2007 and the dollar market also increased by 4.3 percent, up from $9.3 billion in 2007 to $9.7 billion in 2008.

The survey also revealed North America held its position as the largest producer of cards, with more than 8.8 billion cards manufactured in 2008. The Asia Pacific region continues to gain global share with 4.9 billion units manufactured. Europe remained in the third position with 4.1 billion units manufactured, followed by Latin America with one billion units manufactured and the Middle East/Africa (MEA) with half a billion units manufactured.

The regions surveyed were North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and MEA. The products surveyed were plastic cards of all thicknesses including traditional cards—with and without magnetic stripe, and chip cards that include contact, contactless and combi-cards for diverse applications such as financial, identification, telecom and transit.

Also analyzed, regional demographics and card-specific statistics such as market share for value-based secure cards, financial hologram cards, other cards, those cards that do not have monetary value, and financial other cards, those cards that do not use a hologram.

The survey results are available to ICMA members via the ICMA website at www.icma.com. Non-ICMA members can purchase the survey for $1500 and obtain information on becoming a member of ICMA by contacting Lynn McCullough at 609-799-4900, lmccullough@icma.com or by visiting ICMA’s website at www.icma.com.

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About the Survey
ICMA, the world’s leading global association for card manufacturers, personalizers and suppliers, conducted the survey which measures numbers of cards manufactured and market volumes, not individual manufacturers and applications. Card manufacturers throughout the world completed the confidential survey. Additional validated industry data is utilized to support survey results and an independent auditor is used for data submission and confidentiality.

About ICMA
Based in Princeton Junction, NJ, USA, ICMA is a non-profit association of plastic card manufacturers, personalizers and related industry participants. With more than 200 members globally, ICMA acts as a clearinghouse for industry issues, including the production, technology, application, security and environmental issues of plastic cards.

Editor’s Note:
For more information about the Global Market Survey, please contact Meghan Higgins at 609-297-2218 or email: mhiggins@icma.com.