China engineers digital vs. print showdown

If China succeeds in achieving one of its goals in the current five-year plan, 80% of its more than 1.3 billion residents will read books or periodicals by 2015. To accommodate that target, China details in its 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) that the nation will “accelerate the construction of farmers’ libraries, and urban and rural newspaper reading boards.”



The plan also says “by 2015, each Chinese citizen will have, on average, 5.8 books and 3.1 periodicals every year; every 1,000 people will have 100 daily newspapers; every 10,000 people will share 1.3 publication outlets.” 



That can only be good news for the paper, publishing and printing sectors, and promise of their growth is affirmed by market research firm IBISWorld’s report that the “book publishing industry in China is set to generate revenue of US$9.5 billion in 2012, up 3.1% from 2011.” According to the report, “textbooks continue to account for the largest share of industry revenue.”