Printing industry contracts for third consecutive quarter

Industry capital expenditure saw the biggest decline for the three months ending September 2010, with cap ex falling by 54.5% during the quarter compared with the September 09 quarter.

New industry investments for the 12 months to September 2010 stood at $388m, down 9.6% on the previous 12 months.

Meanwhile, sales in the print sector in the September 2010 quarter fell by 0.2% year-on-year. For the 12 months to September 2010, total printing industry sales stood at $8.6bn, representing a decline of 1.4% on the previous period’s outcome.

This contributed to an overall trend of negative growth for the industry for the third consecutive quarter in the ABS’s National Accounts data.

Industry growth also declined 0.4% compared to the September 2009 quarter.

The Australian economy as a whole was reported to have grown by 0.6% over the September quarter, driven primarily by the mining, construction, financial and insurance services sectors.

Hagop Tchamkertenian, Printing Industries national manager for policy and government affairs, said the ABS data revealed a “weaker economic picture than that portrayed by the association’s internal research”.

“While our internal data extracted from the Printing Industry Trends report shows modest reported improvements in production and sales for the September quarter, the official data is indicating the reverse – weakness,” he said.

“Sectors that are important to printing industry demand such as wholesale and retail trade did not make any contributions to economic growth during the September quarter.”

Tchamkertenian said “the economic outlook was increasingly becoming uncertain”.

Click here for the latest headlines from across the printing industry.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter

TAGS

Leave a comment:

Your email address will not be published. All fields are required

Advertisement

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
Advertisement