The Thai Printing Association forecasts the printing industry will grow by only 2-3% in 2019 despite a government stimulus package offering personal tax reductions for purchases of new books and e-books this year.
The industry benefited from campaign activities in the run-up to the general election on March 24.
Pongthira Pathanapiradej, the association's president, said the industry normally generates 120 billion baht annually.
Thailand's printing industry includes several segments such as billboards, vinyl boards, newspapers and books.
"The sector trend has some room to expand as the printing industry remains a crucial need of consumers," said Mr Pongthira.
The book sector will enjoy tax perks, capped at 15,000 baht.
"With this measure, many publishers and bookstores are expected to gain sales nationwide, compared with the past when there were no measures to stimulate the reading market," he said.
"Thailand's paper consumption stands at roughly 70 kilogrammes per year per head, so the association expects further growth amid the penetration of digital prints and e-books."
He said although technology has disrupted the printing industry, the association is still very optimistic about demand from readers of novels and those who prefer the feel of paper-based books.
Thailand has 5,845 publishing and printing companies, 70% of which are small firms, while 20% are mid-sized and 10% are large companies.
Meanwhile, Mr Pongthira forecasts the printing on package industry to surge 10-20% in 2019 as packaging demand from the e-commerce and food and beverage sectors are driving local consumption.
"The printing on package industry is worth about 180 billion baht annually," he said.
Manit Kamolsuwan, president of the Thai Packaging Association, said the domestic packaging industry has the potential to expand in line with the trend of online shipping and e-commerce transactions.
"The paper packages segment has gained from this consumer lifestyle trend," said Mr Manit.
In 2018, the volume of paper packages reached 61.4 billion pieces.
The association expects this to grow to 71.3 billion pieces in 2019, driven by business-to-customer shipment flows in e-commerce.
He said plastic packaging products will be replaced by paper ones because of consumers' growing environmental awareness.
Beattrice Ho, project director of Messe Dusseldorf Asia, said Asia-Pacific is the largest print packaging market, accounting for over 42% of the global market.
"This region is expected to become the second fastest growing region by 2020," she said.
