INTERNATIONAL CARD MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF ITS ANNUAL CARD MANUFACTURING GLOBAL MARKET SURVEY
—in 2006 Almost 17 Billion Cards were Manufactured Globally—
PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ—October 29, 2007—The International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA), a global non-profit association for card manufacturers, personalizers and suppliers, announced today the results of its Annual Card Manufacturing Global Market Survey. The survey, measuring results for 2006, revealed that while the North American region leads the world in the total number of cards manufactured, Asia has taken over the second position in card production.
In 2006 the unit market reached 16.9 Billion cards which represents a robust 15% increase over 2005. North America remains the largest card unit market with more than 8.3 Billion cards manufactured in 2006.
Asia Pacific has taken over the number two position with 3.7 Billion cards manufactured. Europe has slid to number the #3 position with just under 3.6 Billion cards manufactured. Latin America with somewhat less than one Billion cards and MEA with 328 Million cards manufactured.
The regions surveyed were North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East/Africa. 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 hologram cards, ID cards, telecom cards, gift cards, transit cards and more.
The survey revealed the following growth statistics:
Position |
Card Units |
Card Units |
% of Market |
#1 |
North America |
8.4 Billion |
49.4 |
#2 |
Asia Pacific |
3.6 Billion |
21.1% |
#3 |
Europe |
3.6 Billion |
21.1% |
#4 |
Latin America |
948 Million |
5.6% |
#5 |
MEA |
328 Million |
1.9% |
The survey also analyzed regional demographics and card-specific statistics such as market share for traditional cards, secure cards, non-secure cards and financial cards.
The survey results are available to ICMA members via the ICMA website at www.icma.com. Non-ICMA members can purchase the survey and obtain information about becoming a member of ICMA by contacting Lynn McCullough, phone: 609-799-4900, email: lmccullough@icma.com—or by visiting the ICMA website at www.icma.com.
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