Digital printing adoption in Central Asia is on a steady upward trajectory. The demand for digital print solutions is being driven by several factors, including economic growth, the rapid increase in short-run jobs for digital packaging, labels, and publications, and the growth of e-commerce.

This summer, I had the opportunity to travel in Almaty, the business capital of Kazakhstan. Almaty, with a population of around 2.0 million, is the biggest city in the country and home to most of the country’s print companies. Kazakhstan is the largest of the Central Asian republics, followed by Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. These five landlocked countries have a combined population of approximately 76 million. Formerly part of the Soviet Union, they gained independence in 1991.

On my trip, I visited two printing companies that have bought their first digital production presses. My first visit was to Print House Gerona, one of the oldest private printing establishments in the country. It has been operating in the commercial sheetfed printing market for over 30 years. The company has the honorary status of “Heidelberg Partner Company” and specializes in printing advertising products, catalogs, periodicals, and in-flight magazines for leading brands, including Forbes, Jusan Invest, Mary Kay, Air Astana, Herbalife, and others.