Printing Not Among the Industries Worst Affected by the Recession

Lower prices have certainly contributed to the decline in manufacturing shipments and other economic activities. This is evident most in petroleum and coal shipments, which recorded the steepest decline—47.7%— between December 2007 and December 2008. But sour business conditions and disappearing demand get the lion’s share of the blame. This is certainly true for printing: Nearly 76.0% of the NAPL Printing Business Panel report business conditions slowed in January 2009 and 27.0% report conditions slowed “a lot.”