Graphic Arts Industry Enterprises in Poland

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.

Central and Eastern European countries did fare better, however. The number of establishments in Poland even grew by average annual rate of 1.2% from 2012 to 2022, although the statistics show some fluctuations.

Despite a dip in 2022, the outlook is fairly positive. Poland is profiting from printing volumes shifting from Western Europe to CEE due to lower labor costs, while being much closer to the end markets than, e.g., the Far East. Poland had the biggest gains from this shift to the CEE so far and developed a competitive printing industry. The shift will mainly affect revenues, which are expected to continue to rise, while the pressure to consolidate will keep the number of establishments flat. Overall, the number of graphic arts establishments did grow from about 3,530 in 2012 to a peak of 4,100 and is likely to stay flat with about 3,900 in 2030.

Source: digitalprintexpert.de / 2024

As in all countries, the majority of companies in the graphic arts industry in Poland are small. About 84% had less than 10 employees (even after adjusting for dormant or non-productive companies) in  2022, a somewhat higher rate than the average in Europe. Only 3.9% of all enterprises have more than 50 employees. This, however, is higher than the average share and points to some consolidation and the establishment of large printing sites in Poland in the past.

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 2,226 print enterprises in 2022—adding another 60% on top of the number of graphic arts companies in Poland.  

Further Industry Data

This article is part of a regular series of pieces looking at print industry data in 24 European countries. The next article will feature Portugal. A European overview can be found here.

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.

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