High-Value Chip Cards & Asia-Pacific Region Lead, According to ICMA Global Card Market Statistics Report

PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ – June 25, 2012 – The global card market reached $17 billion in 2011, jumping almost 14% from 2010, according to the 2011 International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) Global Card Market Statistics Report. Higher value chip-based cards used in mobile phones and other electronic transactions as well as expanded production in the Asia-Pacific region led market growth as more than 30 billion cards were manufactured worldwide in 2011, adds the report.

However, the report points out, the global card market will experience somewhat slower growth through 2015 and traditional magnetic cards will continue to be replaced by chip while smartphone apps and NFC technology will impact growth beyond 2015.

The global plastic card market remains very strong in the mobile phone, financial, government/health and gift card market segments and we can expect continued growth in these segments for the next few years,” says Al Vrancart, ICMA Industry Advisor and Founder Emeritus.

Report Highlights

Other key highlights of the report include:

Mobile phone cards continued to dominate the global market in 2011 (15.2% or 4,639,000,000 units) in volume and value, followed closely by financial transaction cards (15.2% or 4,628,000,000 units).

The gap between the volume of traditional and chip-based cards manufactured was smallest in the Asia-Pacific region (51.7% and 48.3%) and Europe (54.2% and 45.8%).

Asia-Pacific leads the regions as the largest producer of cards, with more than 10 billion cards manufactured in 2011. North America was second with 8.6 billion units manufactured. Europe is in the third position with 5 billion units manufactured and Middle East Africa in fourth with 4.2 billion cards. Latin America stayed close to last year’s figures at 1.9 billion units manufactured.

ICMA is a global non-profit association for card manufacturers, personalizers, issuers and suppliers, and publishes its Global Market Statistics Report annually. The comprehensive report provides readers with valuable industry data garnered from primary and secondary research and statistical modeling. The report examines 15 market segments—ranging from telephone scratch-off to access control—as well as card production in all global regions.

The report is available to ICMA members on the ICMA website at www.icma.com. Non-members can purchase the report for $1500 and obtain information on becoming a member of ICMA by contacting Lynn McCullough at 609-799-4900 or lmccullough@icma.com .

###
About ICMA
Based in Princeton Junction, NJ, USA, ICMA is a non-profit association of plastic card manufacturers, personalizers, issuers and related industry participants. With more than 240 members globally, the ICMA acts as a clearinghouse for industry issues, including the production, technology, application, security and environmental issues of plastic cards. Visit www.icma.com for more information.