OTTAWA—The positive trend in national printing shipments held up in December. Except for a down March, figures rose throughout 2012. December continued the rise with a 2.3% gain over the same time last year.

Overall, the industry experienced a year-to-date increase in printing shipments of 4.9%. Here are the monthly printing shipments (in millions) for December.

Shipments	Dec 2012	Dec 2011	% change
Dec ($M)	622.7	608.9	2.266
YTD ($M)	801.5	763.9	4.9