Printing Business Index Posts 13th Straight Gain

PARAMUS, N.J.–The National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) reports that its Printing Business Index (PBI), its broadest measure of print activity, reached 56.3 in July 2004. This marks the 13th straight month that the index has been above the critical 50.0 mark, the point at which more printers report that activity is picking up than report activity is slowing down.

"The fact that the PBI has remained above 50.0 for more than a year is a strong indication that the developing turnaround is sustainable," says Andrew D. Paparozzi, NAPL's vice president and chief economist. He notes that "immediately prior to these consecutive positive readings, the index had been below 50.0 for eight straight months. During the 32 months beginning November 2000, the approximate onset of the downturn, the PBI was below 50.0 for 27 of those months."

The PBI combines input from NAPL's Printing Business Panel, a representative group of more than 300 printers that the association surveys monthly on a range of key printing issues. Measures of work-on-hand, current business conditions, expected business conditions (confidence), hiring plans, profitability, and other key indicators are merged into a single measure of activity.

NAPL released the July results in mid-September.