The printing industry in Denmark has seen revenue declines for several years. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic did impact the printing industry (like other industry sectors) heavily as well. Still, it is difficult to quantify the impact as the most recent revenue data Eurostat publishes still dates from only 2018. As a more timely series, Eurostat publishes a production index for printing and recorded media, which gives an indication on how production volumes developed based on 2015 averages. The most recent data point for Denmark dates from June 2021.

During the height of the COVID -19 crisis in May 2020, the production volume index dropped to 59% of the 2015 production average. As volumes were down significantly compared to 2015 before the pandemic, the drop amounts to 31% below the pre-coronavirus average. The EU output (which excludes the UK production) dropped by the same amount (31%) compared to the pre-pandemic average—although that low-point was already reached in April.

The steep drop led to a strong recovery from May to July, with July 2020 having seen the highest index number since—a result of the rebound. Then the recovery stalled as the second and third wave of COVID -19 made more economic restrictions necessary. Output generally remained at a lower level since, with August to December 2020 doing a bit better and 2021 numbers being lower again. Since July 2020, the production index stayed on average about 16% below the pre- generally values—which is noticeably lower than the European recovery averages. As 2021 numbers show an ongoing slight decline it is likely that Danish organizations continue with their strong push to digital documents and used the pandemic to even accelerate the process. In contrast the latest EU average index data for print production shows some recovery after a weak start in 2021.

Taking into account the decline and recovery, the 2020 print industry production is down by about 14% compared to 2019. Assuming a slight increase in prices the revenue decline for 2020 over 2019 could be in the 12% range.

Source: Eurostat

The index data gives a timely reference on how well industry sectors are doing. Less timely is the reporting of revenues, however it does show the total industry size.

While all Nordic countries have seen declines in print production values in the last decade, Denmark is the only country with an uninterrupted decline. With an average annual decline of 4.5%, the drop is faster than in the other countries as well. It seems that a strong decline continued in 2019 and 2020 will certainly see another steep drop, based on the lower 2020 production volumes during the pandemic and the lower recovery numbers.

Source: Eurostat, digitalprintexpert.de

This series on the impact of COVID-19 on printing industry production volumes in Europe will continue. Next time, we will have a look at the printing industry in Finland.