Average Printing Prices Up 2.5% So Far in 2000

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

Overall producer price inflation in the printing/publishing industry was running at a 2.9% annual rate through the first three quarters of this year. This was up from the 2.1% increase recorded between 1998 and 1999, reflecting increases in all U.S. manufacturers' prices.

Prices in the commercial printing subsector rose, on average, 2.5% between September 1999 and September 2000. Newspaper prices increased an average 3.1% over the past year, while the output of the book publishing subsector was priced an average 2.8% higher this September than during September 1999. The price index for periodicals rose by 2.7% between last September and this September. In contrast, average greeting card prices rose 0.6% during the past 12 months, following annual inflation that averaged 2.8% in 1998 and 1999.

Within the lithographic subgroup, over-the-year price increases were highly variable by product category, with the September-to-September average increase coming in at 2.7%. The price index for magazine/periodical printing rose to 5.7% between last September and this September, a mirror image of the 5.7% decline in average magazine printing prices recorded between 1998 and 1999. Also increasing at above-average rate were prices for preprinted newspaper inserts (6.5%), display advertising (4.5%), and label/wrapper printing (4.0%).