Compared to other European Union countries, Belgium has a mid-sized printing industry. Home of several graphic arts technology manufacturers, Belgium is technologically advanced, as well. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic did impact the printing industry (like other industry sectors) heavily. Still, it is difficult to quantify the impact as the most recent revenue data Eurostat publishes still dates from 2018 only. As a more timely series, Eurostat publishes a production index for printing and recorded media, which gives an indication on how production volumes developed based on 2015 averages. The most recent data point for Belgium dates from March 2021.

During the height of the COVID-19 crisis in April 2020, the production volume index dropped to 74% of the 2015 production average. As volumes were down slightly compared to 2015 before the pandemic, the drop amounts to 24% below the pre-coronavirus average. In contrast, the EU output (which excludes the UK production) dropped by 31% compared to the pre-pandemic average.

The steep drop led to a strong recovery from May to July, but then the recovery stalled. With the second wave of lockdowns kicking in, the output fluctuated but remained at a lower level since. On average, the production index stayed about 11% below the pre-COVID values—which is in line with the European recovery averages. Finally, March numbers did bring some respite, with production volume only 8% below pre- coronavirus average. We hope that this trend is continuing.

Taking into account the decline and recovery during 2020, the print industry production is down by about 12% compared to 2019. Assuming a slight increase in prices, the revenue decline for 2020 over 2019 could be in the 10 to 11% range.

Source: Eurostat

The index data gives a timely reference on how well industry sectors are doing. Less timely is the reporting of revenues. However, it does show the total industry size.

The production value in print and media reproduction did slide from just over €3 billion to under €3 billion in recent years. The 2018 production value marks a break in the Eurostat time series. This explains the unusually low value of €1.97 billion, which is also at odds with the production volume index (see above), where no such decline is indicated. We will need to see whether the value is revised in the future or is based on some rearrangement of statistical classifications and will become the new basis for the values moving forward. It is certainly not an indication of a disaster that struck the printing industry in Belgium in 2018 and illustrates that Eurostat data sometimes need some interpretation.

Source: Eurostat, digitalprintexpert.de

This series on the impact of Covid-19 on printing industry production volumes in Europe will continue. Next time, we will have a look at the printing industry in Poland.