Calendars and diaries which are among some of the most sought after items as any new year dawns, are being printed in smaller quantities this year, a survey by The Sunday Times revealed.
Many printers said rising costs and less demand by the public forced them to drastically reduce their numbers.
A senior official of Pix ‘N’ Grafix (Pvt) Ltd, a member of the Gunaratne Group said there was about a 50% reduction in the orders for diaries this year.
He said they usually printed both management diaries and smaller ones and this year the order for management diaries had reduced to about 25,000 from the 40,000 odd print order of past years.
In the case of slim diaries too he said the demand was significantly less and this year they had printed only 15,000 where as in previous years they would print more than 40,000.
“He said on one hand while there was the high printing costs that we have to bear, other companies were also suffering financially and their capacity to purchase such items had dropped, resulting in the significant drop in demand,” he said. A senior official of a leading private printing press in Colombo said they were yet to receive any printing orders for calendars.
“Last year we printed over 200,000 calendars for various companies and organizations. However, this year we are yet to receive any orders. Our printing capacity is also limited with the increase in the price of paper. We have been concentrating on other publications such as magazines,” he said.Lettra Graphic Printers have cutdown not only the number of their calendars but also the kind of calendars they are printing.
“Previously we used to print calendars that featured one month per sheet. If we continued to do so this year too it would have cost us Rs. 65 a sheet, whereas it cost us only about Rs. 50 last year. Therefore, this time we printed calendars featuring three months on one sheet at a cost of Rs. 25 a sheet,” Lettra proprietor Ms. F. Thomas said.
A senior official of the works department of the State Printing Corporation (SPC) said there was a sharp drop in the printing of certain items. He said management diaries were reduced by around 50% as SPC did not receive any bulk orders from institutions.
He said their main project was the printing of around nine million text books for the new school term and calendars and diaries will be printed only according to the orders they received.
The Sunday Times learns that many companies and government institutions have also cut down on the diaries and calendars distributed among their employees.
An official of the Colombo Municipal Council Press said the number of diaries printed for CMC officials had been reduced by 3000.
“Last year we printed about 4250 diaries. But this year, we printed just 1250 diaries”, he said, adding that this followed a government request that local authorities, institutions and other organizations reduce costs incurred.
An official of the Foreign Employment Bureau (FEB) said staff members did not get any calendars, whereas in previous years, around 5000 calendars were printed for staff members. He said only a minimal number of diaries were given to each staff member.
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