Print Against War Documents Conditions of Ukrainian Printers and Converters

20 May 2022: Before the war, the printing and packaging industry in Ukraine employed more than 100,000 people, including 16,000 freelancers, working at more than 5,000 print and converting companies. Those who did not suffer damage or destruction can still work, but they lost most of their orders and turnover. Since February 24th, the lives of all these people have been disrupted. Many of them receive minimum wage or not even that. Print Against War is taking care of them, involving them, listening to them, and understanding their needs.

Who are printers and converters who are struggling the most?

“We were able to talk to some medium and large commercial printers. They are ready to handle large print volumes using their multi-color B1 and B2 size offset presses and bindery departments. We also met with several digital native print houses specializing in short runs, just-in-time jobs, indoor and outdoor campaigns, using sheetfed digital presses, large format printers, and cutters. Besides integrated groups, several small and medium-sized packaging converters can produce printed and embellished boxes and labels. Some have invested in state-of-the-art digital embellishment and narrow-web digital label presses.” says Lorenzo Villa, co-founder of the Meaningful Print Foundation.

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