Violet CtP is under threat from the popularity of thermal

"Despite some pundits heralding 2006 as being pivotal to violet's ascendancy in the market, facts show the complete opposite," wrote Barry Happe, author of the report. "Sales of violet platesetters fell to less than 30 per cent of worldwide sales - a new low - and use of all visible plates was barely more than a quarter of total CtP plate usage."

Looking to the future, the report expects that thermal will remain the preferred CtP technology, with processless and chemistry-free thermal plates taking a larger share of the market. "Processless isn't for everyone at the moment," wrote Happe. "But in time it will be as commonplace as CtP is today."

Defending violet CtP, Garry Muratore, marketing manager of Agfa Graphics believes that hope is not lost. "Whilst thermal sales tend to dominate the heat-set web offset markets due to run-length and usability issues, we are finding strong growth in violet sales in particular applications," he said.

Muratore points to both newspapers and the lower volume 4-up users. "Violet market share in newspapers both globally and locally is very high and continues to grow," he said. "For lower volume 4-up users, the cost of ownership is an issue, violet-based laser diode systems are cheaper to acquire and in the long term cheaper to operate and are tending to find favour."

Admitting that Agfa Graphics has enjoyed much thermal success, Muratore also stated that violet is an important market for the company. "With the announcement of chemical-free violet plates becoming available in late 2008, we are seeing a shifting interest in the violet market as well," he said.

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