COMMERCIAL PRINTING OUTLOOK — PRINTING WORK TO RUN SHORT

Data from the 2006 PIA/GATF Ratios Survey backs up the NAPL economist’s assessment. PIA/GATF reports that the average before-tax profit on sales among printers was 2.7 percent during the latest survey period. That’s a slight increase compared to the 2.5 percent return in 2005, but is still below the 3.0-3.4 percent range experienced from 1995 to 2001, according to the survey summary.