NEW YORK -- May 1, 2003 -- TrendWatch Graphic Arts today released an in-depth new report which analyzes the printing and packaging industries by dissecting the usage of inks and toners. The report includes coveted marketshare data for key commercial printing industry segments, such as inplants, commercial printers, heatset and nonheatset, duplicator, and newspaper markets, and uses inks and toners to identify critical trends in the printing and packaging industry. For example, trend analysis indicates that while the overall number of printing firms is declining, the percentage of larger printing companies (20+ employees) continues to be on the rise across the board. And while larger printing firms are growing, the number of flexible package printing plants and converting trade shops has decreased by 7% since 1995. The report, which offers comprehensive demographics for the printing and packaging industry, is available for online purchase at the TWGA eStore in PDF format. For more information about this and other TWGA reports, go to the main TWGA website page (http://www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com). Researcher's Quote... "Although focusing on the ink and toner industry, the market information in this report has wide-ranging applicability to press manufacturers, commercial printers, trade shops, digital printers, press auxiliary manufacturers and suppliers supporting the printing and publishing markets," notes Vince Naselli, Director, TrendWatch Graphic Arts. "In addition to the ink-specific data, the report offers market demographics, planned investments, sales opportunities and forecasts for future use. Anyone needing a solid sense of the printing and packaging markets for company positioning, developing new business models, and better targeting their marketing dollars to current and new customers bases will appreciate what this report has to offer." According to the Report... -- PRINTERS WITH DIGITAL PRESSES: only 28% of their work is run on digital presses, while 42% is run on sheetfed presses; -- OFFSET COLOR: 12.7% of all offset jobs are printed with five or more colors; -- SHEETFED PRESSES: overall, 54% of jobs in the offset industry are run on sheetfed presses; -- TRADE SHOPS: of jobs being printed by trade shops, 40.7% are done on sheetfed presses; -- TOTAL INK SHIPMENTS: litho and offset inks garner 41.7% of the share, while flexo comes in second, with 24.1%. About the Report... The Inks & Toners Report offers readers a comprehensive look at the state of the ink and toner market today. Among other topics, it offers: -- A comprehensive ink and toner market sizing, broken down by key commercial printing and packaging ink categories; -- Accurate marketshare data in the key categories: sheetfed, offset duplicators, UV and EB inks, heatset and nonheatset web, and the inplant markets; -- Changes in commercial printers' ink and toner use: which inks and toners printers use, don't use, and plan to use more or less over the coming years; -- Printers' job mixes (percentage of jobs printed sheetfed, heatset, nonheatset, or digitally) and the breakdown in amount of color used for their jobs; -- A comprehensive section on market demographics, with total number of establishments in key printing and packaging market segments, broken down by employee category; -- Exclusive TWGA data on printers' planned investments and sales opportunities as relates to the future use of various printing technologies, and therefore their use of inks and toners. Methodology... Data for this report was generated from the latest government data available -- U.S. Economic Census (1997) and 2002 U.S. Annual Survey of Manufacturers -- as well as exclusive research from the TWGA Printing survey and Historical Databases. Market demographics were garnered from the Graphic Arts Blue Book. Ink supplier marketshare data is drawn from TWGA's Graphic Arts Installed Base/Market Share Benchmark survey. Additional ink market-specific data was drawn from NAPIM 2002 State of the Industry report and Ink World market data. Commentary is based on survey data and TWGA analyst insights based on years of industry and market experience. Availability... The 136-page TWGA "Inks and Toners" report is available for purchase by visiting the secure TrendWatch Graphic Arts eStore online at www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com or by phone at 866-873-6310. The price for the report is $1595. TrendWatch Graphic Arts eStore customers can download this report in PDF Acrobat format immediately after purchase. Special Bonus For Early Buyers... For companies who purchase before May 15th, TWGA is offering a special FREE bonus -- a 25-page report ($250 value) with detailed break-out of printers' purchases on various types of inks in 2001 (based on 2002 survey data). Includes sheetfed offset, web offset, flexo, letterpress, gravure, inkjet, toners, offset coatings, and "other." Spending is broken out by key commercial print industry segments. This bonus report is an invaluable addition for anyone interested in detail on the internal print processes used in commercial print shops and their relation to one another.