Graphic Arts Index
Staff -- graphic arts online, 2/1/2004
U.S. book sales are up 1.9% year-to-date through October due to higher textbook sales for the new school year, but publishing remains a weak market for printers. Year-to-date sales are down almost 2% after inflation. Book imports, now one-sixth of the market, are up 7.7% compared to the same period last year, with some of the books printed abroad included in the domestic sales totals. Nonetheless, sales have strengthened enough in the last few months that it is likely that inflation-adjusted domestic book printing volume will stabilize early in 2004 and then grow modestly for several years.
| Actual Value | Annual % Change | |||||
| 9/03 | 10/03 | 11/03 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004* | |
| Consumer Spending - Nondurables (1) | 2,130.7 | 2,141.7 | 2,155.3 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 4.3 |
| Personal Income (1) | 9,268.4 | 9,290.8 | 9,334.8 | 2.7 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Producer Price Index - Book Publishing (2) | 243.5 | 244.9 | 245.7 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 3.4 |
| Text Books | 371.1 | 374.7 | 372.4 | 5.7 | 5.5 | 4.2 |
| Scientific & Professional | 222.3 | 224.9 | 228.5 | 6.5 | 5.8 | 5.8 |
| Adult Mass Market | 219.7 | 219.7 | 219.7 | n/a | 1.3 | 2.4 |
| General Reference Books | 158.2 | 158.2 | 158.2 | -1.5 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
| Religious | 183.0 | 183.0 | 183.0 | 1.6 | -0.2 | 0.9 |
| Consumer Price Index - Competitive Products | ||||||
| Recreational Reading (3) | 198.2 | 198.4 | 197.9 | -1.5 | 3.5 | 3.0 |
| Recreational Books (4) | 104.2 | 104.0 | 103.5 | 3.0 | -0.6 | 2.7 |
| Audio/Video (4) | 103.9 | 104.1 | 104.2 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 0.8 |
| Admissions (3) | 265.0 | 264.6 | 265.5 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 3.6 |
| Personal Computers (5) | 15.6 | 15.6 | 15.4 | -14.3 | -11.9 | -12.0 |
| (1) $ Billions; (2) 1982=100; (3) 1982-1984=100; (4) 1997=100; (5) 1988=100 | ||||||
| U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Labor *Forecast by Reed Research Group | ||||||
