Contactless Card Shipments Broke Through the 2 Billion Barrier for the First Time in 2021

Despite a persistent shortage of microchips, global shipments of contactless cards hit the 2-billion mark for the first time in 2021, totaling 2.63 billion for the year, according to the Smart Payment Association, a Munich-based trade group. 

Propelling the surge was the shipment of an additional 269 million contactless cards in 2021 compared to 2020. Overall, contactless cards accounted for 76% of payment card shipments globally in 2021, up from to 69% in 2020 and 59% in 2019, an indication that consumer demand for the cards is steadily rising, the SPA says. 

On a regional basis, all regions posted growth in contactless card shipments versus the previous year, with the exception of the United States and China. Every country now issues so-called dual-interface cards featuring contactless payment card functionality, and demand in less mature markets such as Mexico, Indonesia, and India now matches that of more mature markets, the SPA says. The SPA bases its calculation of of card shipments on data collected from its own members and participants of the SPA Market Monitoring Advisory Council.

Had it not been for the ongoing chip shortage, which shows little signs of easing anytime soon, the SPA says a higher number of contactless cards would have shipped. The SPA notes that its members were limited by chip manufacturers imposing restrictions on allotments to their customers, which in turn prevented them from fully serving customer demand for contactless payment cards.

“Persistent and wide-reaching global chip shortages negatively impacted the industry’s ability to achieve a more sustained pace of recovery,” SPA president Andreas Strobel says in a prepared statement. “Despite this limiting factor, SPA members, in close coordination with their respective suppliers and clients, strived to optimize utilization of all available product types and their respective stock levels, as well as to achieve more efficient and lean forecasting and ordering policies. Thanks to this closely tracked supply and demand coordination, resulting in an improved flow of goods, the SPA members were able to supply banks and their customers with smart payment cards.”  

In addition to the increase in contactless card shipments, shipments of eco-friendly payment cards reached about 100 million, the SPA says. “This represents an important and highly significant trend for the world’s banking industry, which has put stronger emphasis than ever on their corporate social responsibility and environmental social-governance strategies,” Strobel says. “It responds to today’s environmentally conscious consumers who want an eco-friendly card in preference to a regular card.”