Household detergency: market and packaging

After a positive 2020, with performance severely affected by the covid emergency, the sector is finding a new order with improving data and two key words: wellness and sustainability.

Barbara Iascone
Istituto Italiano Imballaggio

Household detergent and home care products fall into the very broad area of consumer products, that is, everything that is part of consumers’ main purchases on a daily basis. In fact, according to the classification drawn up by the association Assocasa (Federchimica), the sector can be classified between detergents, laundry soaps, washing aids, environmental disinfectants and pest control, waxes, car care products, environmental deodorants, and general cleaning and maintenance products.

Positive trend driven by pandemic

After a decidedly positive 2020, with production growing by more than 16%, the market shrank in 2021, realigning with the industry’s normal economic trend. In 2020, in fact, the sector experienced a boom due to the increasing use of sanitization of environments, accomplices being a health emergency and lockdown.

In 2021, on the contrary, the return to normalcy led to a decline in production. In fact, ISTAT data note a -5.6%, mainly due to a reduction in domestic demand, down 2.2%. It is again ISTAT that describes foreign trade where imports, up significantly at +13.7%, contrasted with stable exports.

In addition, total production in the sector reached 1,855,603 tons in 2021, which can be segmented into imports, settled at around 737 t/000, and exports up 0.1% to a total of 1,573 t/000. Consumption also declined during the same period, reaching 1,019 t/000.

While production of disinfectants and household cleaning detergents resumed at the pace of a more subdued demand, countering the losses are the greater demand for dishwashing and laundry detergents, which downgraded the overall trend.

Performance by product type

Based on Nielsen’s calculations, the various types of household products show varied trends by category. Laundry products, for example, record a decline to 2.1%, where detergents, understood as a macro-category, show smaller losses around 1.2%, while laundry aids lose as much as 3.5%. Consumption of detergents for dishwashers closes 2021 with -0.5%, while the biggest losses are recorded in the market for household cleaning products with -6.6%, which, for detergents reaches -10%.

Based on the analysis of data from the first 5 months, 2022 looks at a sector that is regaining a more linear trend pattern. Early assumptions see a decline of 1%, where household cleaners, at -1.3%, will suffer the most compared to laundry detergents, which lose 0.7%. Positive trend for dishwasher detergents, which could grow by about +0.9% in 2022.

Sales channels and topic trends in the sector

As far as sales channels are concerned, the performance of hypermarkets is improving, albeit with a negative sign and a trend of -4.3%; suffering are supermarkets and discount stores, which reinforce their negative trend without providing any sign of improvement, at -4.7% and -2.9% respectively. On the other hand, the trend imputed to drugstores at +2.7% was positive.

The key words for this industry remain “wellness” and “sustainability.” In fact, the household detergent industry looks carefully both at satisfying consumers and their needs for hygiene and household cleaning, and at combating waste by working on convenience and practicality.

Types of packaging

In the packaging of household cleaning products, the industry leaders are rigid plastic packaging, which accounts for 66.5% of the packaging-mix; this is followed by laminated flexible packaging, used for refills, with 24%, up from the previous year.

Cardboard packaging, mainly used for laundry powder or dishwashing detergents, reaches 4%, while the remaining 5.5% is accounted for by various types (metal cans, plastic wrapping, biodegradable plastic packaging, plastic tubes, brik and vending machines).

Plastic leading material

Thanks to the processing of the Italian Packaging Institute database, it is possible to deepen the analysis beyond just the percentage mix of packaging.

In fact, according to the latest data analyzed, 94% of the packaging used for this industry sector is made of plastic, whether rigid or flexible, virgin, recycled or biodegradable, for a total that reaches 69,300 tons. Of these, 58,600 tons are represented by bottles and 8,900 by flexible laminates, for a total reaching 89,400 tons of packaging used in 2021.

These values reach 185,000 if transport packaging and packaging accessories such as labels and closures are added; the latter, exclusively made of plastic, generate a total volume of about 6,500 tons. Plastic packaging thus accounts for more than 90% of the total used in this sector, which is supplemented by 7% in paper and 3% in metal packaging.