March 2022 shipments came in at $6.91 billion, up from February’s $6.14 billion. So far, it looks like 2022 is closely mirroring 2021—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

January’s number had reflected the tail end of the omicron surge that dominated December, and the months since have seen the virus ebb substantially, with businesses and individuals getting back to something akin to normal. However, variants and subvariants have been emerging, and in some areas—the Northeast in particular—cases are spiking; some of us personally have known more people who have caught COVID in the last three months than in all of 2020.

In our Printing Outlook 2022 report, we reported that we expect 2022 to return to the trend that started in 2019 before the interruption that was 2020, and even if overall shipments have not reached 2019 levels (yet?), we’re at least reverting back to the regular seasonality. So, the question now is: will we mirror 2021 and see a drop in shipments in April, or will we more closely reflect 2019 and see a modest rise? That’s the $7 billion question…