Summit Forecasts Healthy Industry

Ronnie Davis, chief economist at PIA/GATF, noted that U.S. printers’ sales reached $171 billion in 2006, a gain of 3.3 percent over the previous year and a major rebound from a low point of about $156 billion in 2002. He forecasts increases of about 1.5 percent in 2007 and 2.5 percent in 2008.

Significant growth is coming from new digital and “ancillary” services that printers are adding to their portfolios, Davis said, noting, “This is still an opportunity industry.”