Here’s the good news: March 2024 printing shipments were up from $7.04 billion to $7.24 billion. But the bad news is that they are up anemically—indeed, this was the worst March in the last five years, and in fact ever. This was a bit below expectations; 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. One month does not a trend make, and it’s still fairly early in the year (at least in terms of shipments’ releases) to get too worried. Although, looking at the trend, we’re a little skittish about next month… We shall see.
