As we kind of expected, February printing shipments dipped a bit from January—from $7.04 billion to $6.01 billion, still—like last month—keeping us squarely between 2021 and 2022. Which makes sense: in 2021, we were still in the grip of the pandemic and 2022 saw a resurgent recovery—the “back in the black” year. 2023 was a slowdown as we reverted to the mean, and we’ve been expecting 2024 to be a more or less “normal” year—if such a thing can be said to exist. So far, the first two months are starting us off in that direction. If all goes according to plan—and the last four years are any guide—next month should see a big rise in shipments. Fingers crossed!
