[johnnywalker]

This seems very reasonable to me, and I think (and hope) you're right. Just out of curiosity, is there any any synergy between the production of b&w and colour film that would make b&w more expensive to produce if colour were not around? Perhaps PE would know better than anyone.

I personally don't see the B&W market "continue to plunge" as I think it bottomed some time ago, and if anything, may rebound a slight bit as the increased popularity of photography in general begins to trickle back to the foundation. B&W hasn't been huge for a long time.