Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, - According to our 208 survey panelists, printing industry sales increased by 2.3% year-to-date 2012. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, YTD 2012 shipments on a nominal unadjusted basis declined 2.2%. While the Census Bureau still reports a decline, it is an improvement from the first quarter's 3.9% decline.

Since the first quarter of 2011, both our survey panel and the U.S. Census Bureau reported print sales weakening.

For the past few quarters, the majority of industry growth was generated from larger firms. When calculating the percent change in industry sales, we give a higher weight to each firm with more than 100 employees because these firms generate more than 60% of industry sales. Since the fourth quarter 2011, we have noticed a trend-larger firms reporting sales growth declining each quarter from a high in the fourth quarter of 2011 of 5.1% to a low in the current quarter of 2.1%.

This slowdown in sales growth rate for larger firms is the main reason why our panel's year-to-date sales increase has declined from 2.6% last quarter to 2.3% this quarter. To learn more about industry conditions for the first half of 2012 read the Second Quarter Print Market Update.

If you are interested in being included in the Print Market Update survey panel, please contact Ed Gleeson at [email protected].