Packaging: how much is made

In terms of weight, the packaging sector ended 2011 with a 0.7% net drop in production. A drop is also expected for 2012.

The sector’s turnover, amounting to 28,579 million euro, increased by approximately 11%, in part compensating the stark increase in the price of raw materials during the first months of the year.
Exports came out ahead, with total growth of +3%; similarly, imports grew by 3.3%.
Domestic demand fell by 1%.
The recession which has affected the packaging sector intensified, in the same way as with the manufacturing sector, during the course of the last three/four months of 2011.
If we analyze the progress of production in the various supply chains, the sectors which saw a drop in activity with respect to the previous year are: steel packaging (-2.6%), aluminium packaging (-2%, in which the drop depended primarily on the acquisition from abroad of beverage cans), cellulosic packaging (-1.4%), plastic packaging (-2%, after a net drop in the use of shopper bags, but also following a drop in consumption in non-food areas), wood packaging (-1.6%).
Packaging types which managed some degree of growth include flexible packaging for converting, glass packaging and polylaminate cellulosic packaging.
Flexible packaging for converting saw a 6.7% production increase, driven by +11% growth in exports and a 3.3% increase in domestic demand.
Glass packaging saw its production grow by 1.8%, determined by a 4.2% increase in exports and a 1.6% increase in domestic demand.
Polylaminate cellulosic packaging production grew by 1.5%.
Unfortunately, a further drop is expected for the packaging sector as a whole in 2012, this one greater than the previous year. In addition to a further reduction in domestic demand, exports may also undergo losses because the current crisis affects all countries of the European Union and, as is known, the flow of packaging exports primarily concerns the European region.                       

A cura di Plinio Iascone
Istituto Italiano Imballaggio