Exports to France, going by way of Emballage

Emballage and Manutention showcases 1,500 packaging, processing, printing and handling exhibitors and proposes itself as the gateway to one of the largest European markets. How great the organizers tell us with facts and figures on the French food, beverage, hygiene and beauty, luxury, health and multi-industrial sectors.

French industry is one of the most developed in the world - especially in the food and beverage, beauty and luxury segments - and represents an interesting outlet for packaging producers. Comexposium, which organizes Emballage and Manutention 2014 (Paris Nord Villepinte, November 17 to 20), has collected the data for the key industrial sectors, of which we propose a synthesis.

Beverage: long live the can. According to the French association of beverage companies (ANIA), in 2010 the French industry setor was “worth” of 23.679 billion euros, accounting for 16% of the country’s GDP. The sector comprises 2,571 companies with 43,321 employees, that make France the leading world beverage exporter with a share of 16.7%, but also the third largest producer of wine after Spain and the USA, the biggest exporter of mineral water, the third largest producer of bottled water after Germany and Italy, and lastly the fifth largest European beer producer. And champagne? The world’s most famous bubbles feature some 300 companies.
French beverage is spurred on by exports that overall account for 30% of French agricultural and food exports. The balance is maintained at around 10.7 billion euro (data 2013) with the French domestic market showing a slow descent, from -0.9% in 2012 and the more consistently -3% in 2013.
As for packaging, one sees the growth of canned drinks, which in 2013 registered a record year.
 
Food, watch out for bisphenol A. If we consider that the European food industry generates a turnover of around 917 billion euros, with 310 thousand enterprises and more than 4 million employees, France’s figures becomes even more significant. In 2012 French food concerns invoiced 160.9 billion euros (17.5% out of EU-27), with 11,852 concerns (4.4% of the EU total), 495 thousand employees (12.4% of EU total) and a positive trade balance of 9.1 billion euro making France the fifth largest exporter in the world after the United States, the Netherlands, Germany and Brazil. According to the statistics of 2013, however, the country’s balance of trade fell by 7%, highlighting how French industry too has been affected by the general economic crisis.

In qualitative terms, the phenomena which underlie the demand for packaging are the progressive aging of the population (in 2035 a third of French people will be over 60 years old, but already in 2015 the senior citizens account for 60% of the market of food delivered to the door); the development of e-commerce (online transactions are estimated to stand at 600 million, with a value of 51.1 billion euros) and the gradual advent of the drive-in in the national retail landscape. Also worthy of note the tendency to reduce the size of packaging (this too as a measure to combat waste) and inclusion of evermore information on the labels - from the wording “use by” to nutritional indications, going by way of temperature detectors that allow the monitoring of the cold chain. Lastly, a warning: in France the law prohibits (as of February 1, 2015) the use of packaging containing bisphenol A.

A lot of R&D for hygiene and beauty. In the global economy cosmetics is worth more than 425 billion dollars (Euromonitor 2011) and the French cosmetics industry, considering the whole chain, bills approx. 25 billion (source: Cosmetic Valley), consisting of 800 companies and employing 70 thousand people. Here we find companies, which not only occupy the top of the international rankings in the industry, but are a driving force for the industry in both innovation and in cultural terms. The main factors that characterize the packaging concern the development of new systems of applicatioin and the widespread use of airless, the miniaturization of packaging for prestige products, the entry of wood among the materials in cosmetics packaging, the spread of eco-design.
Some examples of success give an idea of commitment in R&D in this sector: the unique sealing system adopted by Squeeze’n Clean by Séphora; Unilever’s “compressed” deodorants that at equal contents reduce the size of the packaging; Bioplan nail varnish with the “right” dose incorporated in the brush, the 3D Gloss Volupté applicator by Yves Saint-Laurent...

Health between export and safety. At the global level, in 2012 the pharmaceutical market was worth 856 billion dollars (-1% compared to 2011), with North America amounting to 40.7% of the overall shares, Europe accounting for a quarter of the “pie” (25.5%) , the Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Australia accounting for 27.6%, with Latin America at 6.2%. In this context, France is the second largest European market after Germany, with a turnover of 52.287 billion euros, almost half of which made abroad: the country in fact holds 4.8% of the global market share, with a trade balance of 7.146 billion, showing a significant increase. Pharma packaging suppliers are highly dynamic, even under the goad of sector regulations. The most obvious innovations concern the manner of use of the pharmaceutical product, the administration of injectable materials and the development of safer and more sustainable materials and medical aids; the traceability of the single medicinal packs; anti tamper and authentication devices.

Luxury: big changes. Considering all segments, from jewelry to cars, from clothes to hotels ... in 2013 the global luxury market totaled 1.130 billion euro (+6.5%), the European market accounting for 440 billion and the French market alone standing at about 34 billion. It is, therefore, a strategic industry for the French economy, that ranks as number 1 in the sector (130 out of the 270 global brands).
It is not easy to get a clear picture regarding the performance of luxury goods, especially in terms of the profitability of its concerns. According to the sources of the report drawn up for Comexposium, between 1994 and 2008, global trade grew at a rate of 7.3% per year between 2009 and 2012 having experienced a double-digit growth and that has now entered a new phase of “normalization”. From the sociological point of view, according to Bain&Co, the number of consumers in the world has more than tripled over the past 20 years and is still expected to grow from 90 million in 1995 to 400 million in 2020. Things still firmly remain, however, in the hands of the “babyboomers” who absorb 45% of world consumption.

Sizeable and growing too the fake luxury market, where counterfeit goods are estimated to be worth more than €200 billion, but according to the European Commission, this figure could double by 2015. For this reason, the use of identification and traceability systems is becoming more sophisticated and “invisible”, directly involving the packaging. Other phenomena that directly affect the design of the packaging are the importance given to the talent of the designer, the intrinsic value and the refinement of the packaging while, on the distribution side, in this area in particular the spread of e-commerce requires the creation of ad hoc packaging that transmits the value of the brand.
 
Multindustry recovering? In 2011 the French manufacturing sector (excluding energy and mines) was worth about € 900 billion, with 206,998 companies and nearly 3 billion employed. As has happened in other economies, especially the West, the French sector has suffered from the global crisis and  has gradually lost shares in recent years. All the same, according to the report by Comesposium, the automotive industry should now start a phase of stabilization, the aeronautics and space industries are growing, mechanical engineering should put in a rise of 2% after the stability shown 2013, and the producers of automotive components should benefit from the expected 5% increase in new vehicle registrations forecast in Europe for the current year.
Here too packaging will have to contend with the specificity of e-commerce, as well as follow the sophisticated technological developments affecting RFID encoding, printed electronics and research in nanotechnologies.

The packaging of the future
Packaging will become more intelligent and capable of  creating  added value all to the benefit of the product, the brand, the user/consumer and society as a whole. How and with what prospects was investigated by the Pack Emballage 2014 Committee of Experts coordinated by Annette Freidinger-Legay and consisting of representatives of Charal, Coca-Cola Entreprise, Danone Research, Eco-Emballages, Fromageries Bel, Groupe Carrefour, Guerlain, L ‘Oréal, Mars Petcare France, Nestlé, Pfizer Sante Familiale, Vente-Privee.Com. Their reflections on key aspects of packaging design, from  service to communication-education, going by way of the environment will be considered and discussed during the course of Emballage 2014, at the special talks and TV broadcasts featuring at the event (full schedule at www.all4pack.fr).