In 2021, the enterprise above designated size in China's printing industry achieved  an increase in operating revenue of 10.3 percent over the previous year,  and a decrease in total profits of 0.4 percent over the previous year. The trend of increasing revenue and decreasing profit is obvious.

1. Overall Trend Analysis

The industrial added value of "printing and recording media reproduction industry" increased by 11.2% year-on-year, higher than the average level of all industries.

Figure 1. Annual growth rate of GDP, total industrial and printing industry added value from 2018 to 2021

Figure 2. Growth rate of GDP, total industrial and printing industry added value in 2021

From the monthly growth rate of the printing industry, the second half of the year, especially the last few months, has been in a period of low growth. This high probability will also be the background color of this year's industry growth: after eliminating the impact of fluctuations during the epidemic period, especially in the early stage of the epidemic, the industry will enter a period of stable low-speed growth.

2. Revenue and Profit Analysis

In 2021, 6,010 enterprises above designated size in the printing industry participated in the statistics. Its total operating income was 744.2 billion yuan, a growth rate of 10.3% over the previous year. During the same period, all enterprises above the industrial scale achieved operating income, an increase of 19.4% compared with the previous year, and the revenue growth rate of the printing industry did not reach the average level of the national industry.

In 2021, the total profit growth rate of enterprises above designated size in the printing industry will be -0.4%. During the same period, the total profits of all industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 34.3% year-on-year. Among the 41 major industries, 32 industries increased their total profits over the previous year, and 9 industries declined. Unfortunately, the printing industry became one of the 9 industries that declined.

Figure 3 shows the actual revenue growth and profit growth of the printing industry in 2021. Since May, the growth rate of total profits has always been lower than that of operating income, and the situation of increasing income and reducing profits for printing enterprises is relatively severe. However, in the fourth quarter, the growth rate of total profits has rebounded, indicating that the cost pressure of printing companies has eased.

Figure 3. Year-on-year growth rate of cumulative operating revenue and total profit of the printing industry

3. Benefit Analysis

At the end of December 2021, the loss percentage of enterprises above designated size in the printing industry was 15.3%, and the total loss of loss-making enterprises increased by 16.7%. As can be seen in Figure 4, the loss percentage of printing companies has decreased compared with the previous year, but compared with the normal years before 2019, the percentage has expanded, indicating that printing companies have entered a period of substantial shock and reshuffle, and the shuffling has been stronger.

Figure 4 The loss percentage of the printing industry

In 2021, the cost per 100 yuan of operating income of the printing industry is 83.94 yuan, slightly higher than the average level of 83.74 yuan for all industries. This figure has increased compared to the previous year's 83.36 yuan.

In 2021, the operating income profit margin of the printing industry will be 5.76%, which is lower than the average profit margin level of 6.81% for all industries. Compared with 6.43% of the previous year, it has gone down another level.

Figure 5 shows the operating income profit margin and cost per 100 yuan of operating income of large-scale enterprises in the printing industry since 2011.

Figure 5 2011-2021 Printing industry operating income profit margin and cost per 100 yuan of operating income

The operating income margin has experienced a continuous decline in the past 11 years. It is expected that with the stabilization of paper prices, the operating income and profit margins of printing companies will recover at the bottom in 2022, leaving the necessary space for the sustainable development of printing companies.

4. Asset quality analysis

At the end of 2021, the asset-liability ratio of printing enterprises above designated size was 45.9%. Compared with the national industrial average of 56.1%, the debt level of printing enterprises is relatively low. Compared with 45.54% of the previous year, the asset-liability ratio has increased.

At the end of 2021, the average collection period of accounts receivable of enterprises above designated size in the printing industry was 52.92 days. Compared with the average collection period of accounts receivable in all industries of 49.5 days, the figure for the printing industry is high. However, compared with 55.34 days in the previous year, the average recovery period of accounts receivable has been shortened, and the financial pressure has been alleviated.

At the end of 2021, the inventory turnover days of finished products of enterprises above designated size in the printing industry were 16.88 days. Compared with 17.75 days in the previous year, the inventory turnover speed has accelerated, and the capital utilization efficiency has improved.

5. Analysis of export delivery value

In 2021, the export delivery value of printing enterprises above designated size will be 54.78 billion yuan, an increase of 5.1% over the same period last year. Compared with the export growth rate of 17.7% for the entire industry, the export growth of the printing industry recovered slowly.

Figure 6 shows the cumulative growth for each month of 2021. It can be seen that the growth rate of the export delivery value of printed matter is lower than the growth rate of revenue, and the development of the domestic market of printed matter is better than that of the overseas market.

Figure 6 Growth rate of export delivery value of printing industry

6. Price index analysis

Figure 7 shows price trend since January 2019. In 2021, the pulp and paper price indices showed a wave of first rises and then falls, with sharp rises and falls.

Figure 7 Producer price index of some industries (same month last year = 100)

In contrast, the ex-factory price index for the printing industry and the price index for bookbinding and printing-related services showed a flat overall trend.　

7. Trend analysis of Some Industries

Table 1 shows the growth of the main business income of some of the 41 major industries that are closely related to the printing industry. Most of these industries are the customer industries served by the printing industry, and there are also upstream industries such as paper making.

The table shows that in 2021, the average growth of all industrial main business income will be 19.4%, achieving stable growth.

Table 1 Growth rate of main business income in some industries from 2013 to 2021

For the printing industry, entering the new year of 2022, how to resolve the pressure of survival and stabilize the basic development is an urgent task facing the entire industry. Printing enterprises need to maintain their concentration, develop steadily, and drive innovation, transformation and upgrading through innovation. , to promote the high-quality development of the whole industry.