Planning a 2020 review at the beginning of the year, I imagined something along the lines of lots of drupa news, some EU regulations, and a trade deal between the UK and the EU. Almost all of that came out differently.

Of course, the overriding theme of 2020 is the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses of all types were affected heavily, and print was no exception.

Despite the many opinions and snippets of information, it is still difficult to quantify the impact. There are companies that are still doing well and others that are suffering or failing. Most official statistics used to gauge the impact across the whole industry are not that timely. Among the few remaining, the monthly production index published by Eurostat offers a timely series of data on production output. Production volumes in graphic arts dropped by about 32% at the height of the pandemic in April compared to pre-COVID levels (in line with all manufacturing). As the economy got into gear again, print volumes recovered. It was a steep recovery at first after the initial sharp dip, but since August, production volumes have remained flat. Current volumes rank about 10% lower than pre-COVID. So far, we are experiencing what is called a “reverse square root recovery”: volumes are stabilizing at a lower level after a sharp dip and a quick, partial recovery. This is not unexpected as hospitality, travel, and event businesses are still shut—and all are big customers for print. This will drag well into 2021.