Commercial printers. (Puerto Rico) (Industry Profile )

COMMERCIAL PRINTERS

$125M industry overcomes past obstacles; island firms stand poised to play greater role in Caribbean region

After more than 30 years of slow, painful development, the island's commercial printers are on the threshold of some exciting times.

The island's estimated $125 million commercial printing industry, which prints products ranging from business cards to magazines and books, currently employs about 2,000 workers and contributes $23.4 million in annual wages to Puerto Rico's economy.

At present, there are approximately 97 commercial printers in Puerto Rico. This includes the big, sophisticated printers with high-speed, multi-color rotating and sheet-fed presses, the medium-sized full-color printers, and the so-called quick printers.

The island's big printers are the smallest in number of the three groups. They include Ramallo Brothers Printing Inc. and Caribbean Printing Industries Inc., both of which do commercial and business forms printing, along with Art Printing Inc., which does commercial printing.

The second group, which is more …