New capital expenditure in the printing industry for the three months ending 30 June dropped by 7.9% year-on-year and by 10.3% compared to the previous quarter.
However, total capital expenditure for the 2009/10 financial year stood at $488 million, which represented a rise of 30.1% compared to the 2008/09 financial year.
Meanwhile, printing industry sales for the June quarter rose by 2% year-on-year, though it couldn’t stop the industry from recording a 5.1% decline in sales for the entire financial year, as overall revenues totalled $8.4bn.
The ABS figures indicated that the printing industry experienced 0.3% overall growth during the June quarter, and 3.6% growth for the 2009/10 financial year. The Australian economy as a whole was reported to have grown by 0.9% over the June quarter and by 3.2% over the financial year.
Hagop Tchamkertenian, Printing Industries’ national manager for policy and government affairs, said: “The official data now confirms what we knew and suspected weeks ago that the June quarter was essentially a soft quarter for our industry.
“While the economic growth data shows a modest improvement for the printing industry, the industry continues to operate at a level that is significantly below the reported levels of the pre-global financial crisis (GFC) period.
“The big unknown now for the printing industry is how much of the losses experienced during the recent economic downturn can be realistically recouped. If the economy continues to expand, some positive flow-on effects to the printing industry should take place,” he added.
The ABS figures largely chime with the Australian Industry Group’s analysis of the manufacturing industry for the month of August.
While the overall Performance of Manufacturing Index indicated an eighth consecutive month of overall growth, the ‘printing and publishing’ industry was one of the sectors said to have “experienced the biggest falls in activity”.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout said: “Election uncertainty, together with intense import competition and other ongoing impacts of a strong Australian dollar, is generating headwinds for manufacturers.”
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