Breaking News | Again-to-school: Why pencils are nonetheless so widespread — billions a 12 months are bought

And whereas pencil manufacturing within the US has declined through the years as manufacturing has moved abroad, demand for imports from international locations resembling China, Mexico and India suggests a market that is still robust.

Commerce knowledge supplied to Marketwatch by the Writing Instrument Producers Affiliation exhibits {that a} main import class consisting of pencils and comparable writing devices is about to develop by 17% from 2008 to 2022 – a whopping determine of round 3.7 billion models yearly has reached. Briefly, a Very of pencil

Some years have been stronger than others for US pencil gross sales — the market took a slight hit in 2021 through the COVID pandemic when many faculties went distant — however general, David Baker, the affiliation’s govt director, mentioned. There is no such thing as a signal of weakening.

In response to a analysis report by Precision Enterprise Insights, the market is on a sustained progress trajectory. It forecasts gross sales to develop at an annual price of seven.7% by means of 2028.

Pencils, a writing instrument that’s centuries outdated and normally fabricated from graphite coated in wooden, have been capable of not solely survive however thrive largely relying on who makes use of them . Specifically youngsters.

Trade insiders say the Pencil stays a necessary, easy-to-use writing instrument for grade faculty college students, particularly these within the kindergarten by means of fourth grade.

“With pencils being so fundamental at a younger age, the pencil model might be most related to the basic yellow No. 2 mannequin,” mentioned Steve Boia, president of gross sales and advertising and marketing for the North American division of The Dixon Ticonderoga Firm. (Dixon is now owned by FILA Group FILA, -0.84%, An Italian group.)

And because the U.S. youngster inhabitants grows — from 63.6 million in 1990 to 73.1 million in 2020, in line with authorities and different knowledge — that largely explains the expansion within the pencil market, consultants say. Is.

It’s not that digitization has not arrived on the planet of studying. Contemplate that beginning subsequent 12 months, the SAT, the main college-admission check high-school college students take, can be achieved on-line, without having for a pencil on check day.

Tia Frapoli, president of market researcher Circana’s office-supply apply, additionally mentioned using digital units “accelerated and peaked” through the pandemic and lots of educators plan to proceed adopting such know-how sooner or later. However he mentioned the truth that pencils have held their very own from a gross sales perspective exhibits their resilience.

“Know-how has not changed the necessity for conventional core orbit components,” Frapoli mentioned.

Pencil corporations are additionally contributing to make pencils, properly, nice.

The Tennessee-based Musgrave Pencil Firm, one of many few surviving American producers, has produced all the pieces from scented pencils to coloured design pencils (suppose dinosaur-themed fashions) through the years. Additionally they have funky erase toppers that “add flash and enchantment,” mentioned firm president Scott Johnson.

The corporate additionally finds methods to deal with the grownup market, as pencils are nonetheless utilized in many companies. An instance: Musgraves now manufactures the cam-shaped pencil invented by a grasp carpenter—a writing instrument geared toward craftsmen.

Musgraves additionally works with corporations to design pencils that may be engraved with logos or messages. Johnson referred to as the pencil “the world’s smallest billboard” and mentioned that “it’s a beautiful medium as a promotional merchandise.”

The corporate’s progress formulation seems to be working: Johnson mentioned gross sales are up 10% year-over-year.

Trade insiders say it is attainable that one facet of the pencil trade’s resilience is about to flatten the digital sphere. Name it Luddite’s revenge—or simply the concept that holding a writing instrument between your fingers has a sure intrinsic (and nostalgic) attract that may’t be discovered by typing on a pc or cellphone.

Pencil fanatic Carolyn Weaver, who as soon as ran a New York Metropolis retailer dedicated to the writing instrument, sees it at the very least that approach. She mentioned that she takes to the pencil for a number of causes. Amongst them: the tactile really feel of utilizing it and the “unparalleled freedom” that comes with a built-in eraser.

Weaver mentioned at this time’s grownup Pencil customers are a proud, like-minded group.

“Individuals are utilizing analog instruments not as a result of they need to, however as a result of they need to,” he mentioned.