At its annual dinner, which was held on 16 April, NAPM president Alistair Gough claimed change was happening at a faster rate than ever before.
Gough, who is also Robert Horne managing director, said nobody could have foreseen the scale of the downturn, which resulted in an overall sales decline among NAPM member merchants of 2.5% in 2008, followed by a 16% decline year on year in January and February.
"In addition to the decline in volume, credit insurance is being withdrawn at an unprecedented rate," he said.
"We have seen record levels of business failures and bad debt in the merchant sector, which in 2008 recorded a bad debt of £14m."
However, he said he believed there was hope for the future, providing the market faced facts and was realistic about the world it now trades in.
"We need to ensure we emerge from the current economic crisis with an industry that is structured to operate profitably," he said.
"We have a window of opportunity to ensure we emerge from this crisis stronger than at the point we entered it."
However, Gough said: "With volumes at the levels they are and unlikely to return to those previously seen, more clearly needs to be done."
At the event, members discussed NAPM's recent initative, Two Sides. They hailed the paper industry as one of the few truly sustainable markets, but one that is still surrounded by "negative and ill-informed information".
Martyn Eustace, director of Two Sides, said that 100 companies have now signed up to the campaign, but claimed the industry still had a long way to go.
"Paper has irreplaceable properties and it is the flexibility of print that leads to its success," he said.
