São Paulo Owner of Leograf, in Osasco, Greater São Paulo, Fabio Gabriel dos Santos kept his printing company working in three shifts during the election period. The biggest order was made by a party that he prefers not to name.
"There were 100 million four-page leaflets. There was also a significant increase in orders for other acronyms for saints, pamphlets and inserts", says he, who is also vice-president of Sindigraf-SP (Union of Printing Industries in the State of São Paulo).
It was an order that would be enough to give a leaflet to 63% of the country's voters (158.7 million, according to the Superior Electoral Court).
"In this election, the industry gained breathing space. The search for printed material from candidates was very large, greater than in previous elections. In relation to last year's revenue, the growth was 25%", estimates Julião Flaves Gaúna, national president of Abigraf (Brazilian Association of the Printing Industry).
The assessment is that the sector has gained cash flow for the first months of 2027.
The movement attracts attention. In the 2026 elections, for three majority positions (president, governor and senator) and two proportional positions (federal deputy and state deputy), campaigns on social media gained even more prominence, with millions of views and likes.
"The explanation I heard from parties is that it was necessary to run a more hybrid campaign because people were becoming suspicious of messages that arrive via WhatsApp. Perhaps printed material is more reliable. This helped increase our revenue", says Santos.
The growth comes after years of contraction in the sector. The estimate is that in the first half of 2025, for example, physical production in the printing industry fell by 4.3%. This happened mainly due to the 7.1% decline in what is called "printing activities" (magazines, books, professional printed materials and security materials), the sector's largest historical nucleus and exposed to the replacement of paper by electronic means.
As in other economic activities, the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the problem. Production fell 25% in 2020, and printing activities shrank 38.7%. As this loss has not been recovered, the market is looking for new ways, such as printing catalogs, packaging, labels and tags.
"Companies really needed that breath. There was a general increase in saints, leaflets and other printed campaign materials, which could even go down in the history of Brazilian politics. And what is on paper remains, even for the candidate's proposals. On social media, it could disappear", says the president of Abigraf.
The reasons for the advance, unexpected even for businesspeople in the sector and sector leaders, are speculated. No one can pinpoint what really happened.
"An important topic is voting by number. The card works and no social media element fulfills this function of reminder in an election with so many positions", assesses Rodrigo Prando, political scientist and professor at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, in São Paulo.
He considers that electoral rules, which prohibit voters from going to the polls with a cell phone, may have encouraged parties to invest more in printed material. Each person had to vote five times, in combinations that ranged from two digits (for president and governor) to five digits (state representative).
Prando also argues that the printers may have earned more and benefited from the balance of the dispute.
"More than in previous elections, this one has been even more fierce and fragmented. This encourages campaigns to fight for all the votes, spread them across their territories", he adds.
It was not a uniform gain, however. The parties, according to reports heard by the reporter, spent more on larger printers, those that could receive voluminous orders and deliver them overnight.
"Campaigns deliver the order at 7pm one day and want it ready at 8am the next morning. Not just any printer can do this", says Santos.
