Machinery Prices Up Less Than 1% in 2001

Most of the costs associated with doing business in the printing realm have moved only slightly higher during the past few years. Although insurance and employee benefit costs have risen, wage costs have stabilized as the labor market has weakened, and average paper, graphic arts supplies, and energy prices all have fallen.

Additionally, average printing equipment prices have risen only marginally over the past three years. The Labor Department's Producer Price Index (PPI) for the total product output from U.S manufacturers of the printing trades machinery industry averaged only 0.6% more last year than it did during 2000. Average price increases in both 1999 and 2000 were under 1%.

Further, average printing equipment prices were easing still more as 2001 drew to a close. The December 2001 PPI for all printing trades machinery was 0.3% lower than during December 2000. Thus, inflation in the capital sector of the printing/publishing industry as we entered 2002 was even lower than it had been during 1999 through 2001. In fact, we're now seeing net deflation in overall printing equipment prices.

Among the major product subsectors of printing trades machinery, average prices in the offset lithographic printing press category were up 0.9% on an annual average basis between 2000 and 2001. The PPI for other non-litho printing presses increased by 0.9% between December 2000 and December 2001, and average binding machinery and equipment prices this past December were a modest 0.8% higher than at the close of 2000.