According to the Office of National Statistics, manufacturing increased 2.1% year-on-year in June, but dropped 0.4% compared to May 2011.

The largest contributor to the decrease was the transport equipment industry, which dropped 1.7%. But paper, printing and publishing was the second highest contributor with a 1.2% drop.

Print's dip has not surprised many, with the industry reportedly at a low point; however its high drop in comparison to other industries was not expected.

Technoprint managing director Mark Snee said: "I can relate to it, in April it seems print fell off a cliff, it has been very weak. But I didn't think the industry was any worse than any other sector."

Snee added that the biggest concern was whether the industry would continue to retract, a problem that, he said, it had never had to face before.

He added: "If you look at the recession of the 1990s, print outputs didn't suffer. Look at the graphs - paper production was almost untouched. It would be interesting to see just how much the sector has retracted since 2008, because it will certainly be a drop we have never faced before."