Graphic Arts Industry Enterprises in Finland

The graphic arts industry includes graphic arts print, often also termed commercial print (although including publication and specialty print in this overview), as well as newspaper print, prepress, and postpress companies. Since 2012, the number of printing establishments in Europe shows a steady decline—the effect of ongoing consolidation in the industry.

Consequently, in Finland, the number of establishments declined on average by 3.5% from 2012 to 2022—somewhat above the average decline rate in Europe. The forecast expects the decline rate to continue at a slightly faster rate. While there was a slight slowdown in the decline rate from 2020 to 2022, the recent pressure on print costs and demand will lead to higher rates of shutdowns in the next few years. Also, the rising operating costs will take their toll on companies not prepared to handle the cost and interest rate increases and lead to more consolidation. Especially larger or small, specialised companies should benefit. Overall, the number of graphic arts establishments is likely to decline from about 740 in 2012 to about 380 by 2030.

Source: digitalprintexpert.de / 2024

As in all countries, the majority of companies in the graphic arts industry in Finland are small. More than 85% have less than 10 employees (even after adjusting for dormant or non-productive companies). Only 4.6% of all enterprises have more than 50 employees, which is above the European average, however.

There are other important print producers that are, statistically speaking, not part of the graphic arts industry. Those are folding carton, flexible packaging, corrugated, and label printing, plus photocopy services and in-house printing. This adds another 384 print enterprises in 2022—totalling almost three-quarters of the number of graphic arts industry enterprises in Finland.

Further Industry Data

This article is part of a bi-weekly series of pieces looking at print industry data in 24 European countries. The next article will feature France. A European overview can be found here: https://whattheythink.com/data/119946-sizing-european-print-industry/

A breakout of all segments by country and timelines for the number of establishments, revenue, and employment in the graphic arts industry and other print segments can be found in the 2024 European Print Industry Sizing report. The report also features the number of companies by size class and country. The report can be purchased from the WhatTheyThink store at https://store.whattheythink.com/downloads/european-print-industry-sizing-2024/.h

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