http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2008/11/07/3768284.htm
China’s Q3 Printer Sales Volume Fell 8%
BEIJING, Nov , 2008 1.8344 million sets of printers, valued at CNY 2.282 billion, were sold in China in the third quarter of 2008, falling 8% and 11.9% from July-September 2007.Sales volumes of ink-jet printers and laser printers respectively declined 10.8% and 5.8% year on year to 1.1957 million and 408,100 sets while sales volume of stylus printers climbed 3.3% to over 200,000 sets.Amid withering demand from financial, government, and education industries, sales volume of color laser printers dropped 14.5% in Q3 in the Chinese market, the first decline since 2001. High prices and maintenance costs are major factors to limit the development of color laser printers.Contrarily, A3-sized printers kept a stable growth trend in the period. Driven by decreasing prices, sales volume rose 5.6% from a year ago. Media, education, and publishing industries still were major buyers. Meanwhile, financial, telecom, transportation, as well as government industries started to show increasing demand for the printers.