A lot has been written already about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the printing industry. It is time to look at the numbers as well, as they become available. For full sets of production, company and employment data for Europe we will need to wait a while still, possibly more than a year. Some early numbers and indicators are available already, however.

Eurostat is a great source of statistical data for Europe, although the data is often not that timely. At present, full printing industry numbers are only available up to 2018. However, there is a more timely data series available in the production indices. Those data sets show changes in production compared to a set reference time (currently, the year 2015) and allow us to track changes, although not total values. The chart below shows the production index numbers for printing and media reproduction, paper and board manufacturing, and (for comparison’s sake) “all manufacturing” data for the European Union (excluding the UK). Monthly data is available up to February 2021.

As 2015 is the base year all time series moved into the pandemic at different starting levels. Printing scored 7% to 8% lower at the onset as 2019 volumes declined compared to 2015. All manufacturing was about 6% higher than 2015, while paper and board manufacturing approximately stood at 2015 levels before the pandemic started.