Austrian printers face falling demand and revenue

Austria’s printing industry is under growing pressure from digitalisation and declining demand for print products, ORF reports. A survey found that 59 percent of businesses expect revenue to fall this year, while 12 percent anticipate a moderate increase.

More than 100 representatives of printing companies met in Salzburg on Friday to discuss strategies for responding to the downturn. The industry generated nearly 1.8 billion euros in revenue last year, about 100 million euros less than four years earlier.

Print and media expert Boris Andreas Weber said the industry should highlight the cultural and historical importance of print and the ways people can still benefit from it. Martin Hagenstein, managing director of the Salzburger Nachrichten, said reading a paper newspaper offered a sense of calm that online products did not, particularly at weekends.

The Druckzentrum Salzburg, a printing centre half-owned by the Salzburger Nachrichten, has seen its overall workload decline in recent years. It is focusing on efficiency and cost savings to retain its 42 employees. The centre prints the Salzburger Nachrichten and Salzburg Krone, as well as the Salzburg editions of Kurier, Standard and Presse.

Further job cuts are feared across the industry, said Gerald Watzal, head of the Association of Printing and Media in Salzburg. He also criticised new administrative requirements, including the packaging regulation and the currently suspended deforestation regulation, saying businesses faced a heavy burden in documenting supply chains for every product.

Reinhard Prügl, head of the Institute for Family Business at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, said family ownership could give Austrian printing companies a strategic advantage. Experience with change across generations, he said, could help them compete.