Industry Growth Projected

Staff -- graphic arts online, 12/1/2000

LIVINGSTON, N.J. -The commercial printing industry continued to realize steady growth last year with real shipments rising almost 5% to an estimated record of $76.78 billion, according to CIT Equipment Financing's 11th Annual Commercial Printing Outlook.

The Outlook predicts that current-year real shipments will expand at a 3.7% annual rate. Next year, growth is expected to slow to 2.6%, a full percentage point lower than the expected pace of the economy, before rising slightly to 3% in 2002.

The CIT Outlook reports that real domestic purchases of printing equipment grew an estimated 2.9% last year, of which imported machinery was a large component-57% of the domestic equipment market. The report predicts that imports will continue to grow, reaching $2.475 billion, more than 58% of the market in 2002.