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Demand for 'transpromo' print in Europe is set to soar in 2008, according to Spanish direct marketing firm Vesa Direct.

Alejandro Fernández of Spanish direct marketer Vesa Direct, told PrintWeek he expected the Spanish transpromo market to rise to more than 20m sheets a month in 2008.

This follows recent comments from leading figures in the local direct mail sector, who said the UK is missing out on half-a-billion pounds in transpromo opportunities.

Fernández's comments followed Vesa Direct's installation of a full-colour InfoPrint 5000 production system, believed to be the first of its kind in Europe.

The Spanish transpromo market is more mature than in the UK, where spend accounts for only 3% of annual UK market spend.

Is September, direct mail giant Dsi CMM said UK advertisers were missing out on a "major unexploited opportunity" by not printing on the £502m of unused advertising space going out on bills and statements every year.

Fernández said: "The technology has been in place for a number of years, but now we are seeing the European market grow exponentially."

"In Spain, many multinational companies are now looking to roll personalised mail too all their customers, having previously limited it to small portions of their market."

Vesa Direct said it might install up to eight InfoPrint 5000 systems alongside the high-speed B&W InfoPrint 4100 and InfoPrint 4000 machines already deployed.

Vesa is responsible for printing invoices for Telefónica Spain as well as statements for the country's leading banks.

Fernández said that the InfoPrint 5000 production system, a joint venture from Ricoh and IBM, would improve the quality of its offering, providing low-cost, full-colour printing solutions.