Despite the year being less than two weeks old, all three of the sector's big players have either announced redundancies or pay cuts.

And, while this could have a knock on effect for publishers, ultimately leading to price increases, buyers have said that it has been coming.

One senior print buyer told PrintWeek: "I don’t think that anyone can be surprised that BGP and Polestar are finally taking action.

"The question is whether Polestar will actually close Colchester, because if they aren’t prepared to it will make any changes very difficult to realise; and what will happen to BGP? Reducing costs does not ensure the future of this business."

Another added that "things have to change" in the sector, with these moves deemed a "necessary but painful process".

Around 1,000 employees in the web offset sector were affected last week when Polestar, Wyndeham and BGP announced changes.

Polestar announced plans to close its Colchester facility, which employs over 300 staff, while shift changes at Chantry, Varnicoat and Petty will result in at least 35 redundancies.

Meanwhile, Wyndeham Group is to make 86 employees redundant at its Heron subsidiary   .

Rival web offset printer BGP has not announced plans to remove jobs or capacity from the market; instead it has asked staff to vote on a paycut of up to 20% across the entire group.