The tender process for printing next financial year's White and Yellow Pages phone directories is underway - but don't expect Australian printers to get much of a look in as printers in Singapore and China gobble up the lion's share of the work.
A spokesman for Sensis, the company that produces the Yellow Pages and White Pages, said that the 'vast majority' of the directories are printed in China and Singapore, with PMP only performing a small portion of the work. PMP has not held the directories contract since at least 2014, despite signing a seven-year exclusive deal with Sensis in 2009.
"It was an early, agreed exit by both parties. Obviously there was a long term contract, but market forces had changed and shifted a little, so both parties agreed it was in their best interest to make those changes at the time," said Stephen Harvy, General Manager Operations, Sensis.
PMP must now compete for tenders with Asian printers each financial year, Harvy confirmed, adding that the largest printing company in Australia maintains relationships with Sensis. "We have recently engaged PMP to do some work for us, and will continue to keep them within our scope of engagement, but as always it will be a competitive process.
"When we pitch our work, we pitch it to those who will meet our needs – at the moment it’s those printers in China and Singapore as well as PMP. We assess that on an annual basis," he said.
Harvy also indicated that PMP may have a larger share of the work in future. "In this most recent engagement, PMP had a small portion of our overall allocation, but that has potential to shift into the future," he said.
Sensis remains committed to delivering printed product for as long as the phone books maintain their audience and advertiser base, according to Harvy, with research by Roy Morgan showing 2.9 million searches using the printed Yellow Pages every week. "The directory’s there for an audience, we’re trying to adapt and be as relevant as we can be. We won’t sit idle and see it fade into the sunset, we want to innovate where we can to keep it relevant.
"We’re committed to printed directories and making the best product we can with partners here and abroad, for as long as we can," Harvy said.
PMP declined to comment.