According to Printing Industries of America’s (PIA) 208 survey panelists, printing industry sales increased by 2.3 percent year-to-date (YTD) 2012. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, YTD 2012 shipments on a nominal unadjusted basis declined 2.2 percent. While the Census Bureau still reports a decline, it is an improvement from the first quarter's 3.9 percent decline.
Since the first quarter of 2011, both PIA’s survey panel and the U.S. Census Bureau reported print sales weakening.
For the past few quarters, the majority of industry growth was generated from larger firms. When calculating the percent change in industry sales, PIA gives a higher weight to each firm with more than 100 employees because these firms generate more than 60 percent of industry sales. Since the fourth quarter 2011, PIA has noticed a trend—larger firms reporting sales growth declining each quarter from a high in the fourth quarter of 2011 of 5.1 percent to a low in the current quarter of 2.1 percent.
This slowdown in sales growth rate for larger firms is the main reason why PIA’s panel's YTD sales increase has declined from 2.6 percnet last quarter to 2.3 percent this quarter. To learn more about industry conditions for the first half of 2012, read the Second Quarter Print Market Update.
If you are interested in being included in the Print Market Update survey panel, please email Ed Gleeson at egleeson@printing.org.
- Companies:
- Printing Industries of America, Inc.
- People:
- Ed Gleeson