April 29, 2015
The global corrugated packaging market is estimated to reach $173.6bn (£113bn) by 2020 according to Persistence Market Research (PMR).
The report, “Global Market Study on Corrugated Packaging: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast to 2020″, shows that the global corrugated packaging market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.0% during 2014 to 2020.
It states that the corrugated packaging market is thriving mainly due to growing end-user industries, including food, medicine, consumer durables, rubber, and petroleum. Benefits associated with corrugated packaging such as sustainability and low cost makes it one of the preferred modes of packaging across various industries.
Emerging markets are said to offer tremendous growth opportunities for the corrugated packaging market due to increasing population and growing demand for consumer products in these regions.
PMR said that the e-commerce industry has emerged as one of the key drivers for the global corrugated packaging market. The US full-service market intelligence firm said it is primarily because corrugated packaging is the most reliable form of packaging products in this industry.
However, certain restraints such as low endurance of corrugated packaging and stalled growth across certain end-user industries are affecting market growth. The market, in terms of competitive structure, is consolidated through large numbers of mergers and acquisitions, most recently those involving big Anglo-Irish corrugated player Smurfit Kappa, which itself has been rumoured to be a £6bn target of US giant International Paper. This indicates tough sustainability in this market.
Increasing population coupled with rising per capita income is encouraging industrial production worldwide, which, consequently, is increasing the number of shipments, according to the report.
Owing to low costs and easy handling, corrugated packaging is considered as ideal for shipments across several industries. Based on the application, corrugated packaging is used in different shapes such as sheets, liner board, boxes, and containerboards.
The various application industries that use corrugated packaging include processed food, fresh food and produce, beverages, personal and household care, chemicals, paper products, electrical and electronic goods, glassware and ceramics, and tobacco.
Rising population and growing demand for food, medicine, and consumer durable goods in developing countries are driving the demand for packaging products in these regions. Low costs and high benefits of corrugated packaging have made them one of the most preferred packaging solutions across an array of industries in these regions. Food and healthcare are among the fastest growing industries in China that use corrugated packaging. The processed food sector in China is growing at a rate of over 10%. Electrical equipment and machinery (a key end-user for the corrugated packaging market) market in China is growing at over 11%. Indonesia is said to be another emerging economy with a large number of food processing companies. This, in turn, is driving the corrugated packaging market.
The report shows that China, Japan, India, and Indonesia are the major corrugated packaging material producers in Asia Pacific. The US leads the corrugated packaging material production in North America while the European market is dominated by Italy, France, Germany, Spain, the UK, and Poland. Brazil and Turkey feature among the leading corrugated packaging material producers in Rest of the World (RoW).
Major companies in the corrugated packaging market include International Paper Company, Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited, Rock-Tenn Company, Smurfit Kappa Group, Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Ltd., Georgia-Pacific Equity Holdings LLC, Oji Holdings Corporation, Mondi Group, Packaging Corporation of America, and DS Smith.
Original article can be found here