Commercial Printing Outlook : Bootstrap Time for Printers

Growth for GDP

Andy Paparozzi, vice president and chief economist of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), notes that the 2013 Blue Chip Economic Indicators consensus (through Oct. 10) expects GDP to grow 1.6 percent in 2013. The NAPL forecasts total commercial printing sales—all sources, not just printing—to grow slightly, at 0.5 percent to 1 percent for 2013, in the same neighborhood as 2012's 0.6 percent rise. Paparozzi says that level is still far shy (20 percent behind) of the pre-Great Recession level of 2007, as well as the all-time high of 22 percent in the year 2000.