We do see a distinct pattern emerging. We kicked off 2026 with January printing shipments coming in at $7.17 billion, down from December’s $7.53 billion. Shipments plummeted to an all-time low of $6.78 billion in February but roared back up to $7.30 billion in March. Still, looking at where March 2026 is in comparison to the past four years is not especially encouraging.

Macroeconomically, things are looking a little shaky. GDP growth has been a bit sluggish, and as we saw in Wednesday’s CPI report, inflation is at its highest rate since the post-COVID supply chain snafus, this time largely due to tariffs and the embattled Strait of Hormuz. (In our recently released Printing Outlook 2026–27, “pricing pressures and price erosion” was our survey respondents’ number one challenge, with “national economic conditions” a close second and geopolitical issues were of greater concern in this survey than in the history of our Outlook reports.)

Naturally, things like inflation and rising costs eat into profit margins, but anything that threatens the economy in general ultimately affects the demand for print, as marketing budgets tend to be the first thing that get cut when belts need tightening. Again, not to raise the specter of Dr. Doom, but this could be a rough year.