The packaging sector in 2022

Overview of turnover, production and trade balance: in general terms, the assumed pre-final figures provide a snapshot of a resilient and growing sector.

Barbara Iascone

Data on the packaging sector for 2021 revealed a sector in an excellent state of health which, thanks to a physiological rebound, saw production levels grow by 7%, taking the quantity of empty packaging produced in Italy to 18,194 t/000.

As was the case for most manufacturing sectors, 2021 was characterized by a positive production trend, more than making up for the serious losses recorded in 2020. The situation was somewhat different for the packaging industry, which even in 2020 managed to record a +0.6%.

Based on the first pre-final forecasts, in 2022 we should be able to confirm the positive trend in packaging production as expressed in tonnes. With a growth rate that should arrive at around +2.4%, the quantity of packaging should exceed 18,600 t/000.

Exports will certainly be pushing production; on the basis of updated official statistics, are growing by 5%. The internal market, however, has also played its part, thanks to the contribution of imports, showing a +20%. It is precisely the constantly and continuously upward imports trend that needs to be carefully monitored: in the last 15 years, imports have grown, in fact, at an annual average rate of +5.5% (exports, on the other hand, for the same period, recorded an average annual rate of +1.2%).

As a result, we have seen a fall in the trade balance between exports and imports which, while remaining positive, has undergone an average annual reduction of 10.6%. Apparent use (which does not take account of stock movements) should show a fall of 4.4%.

After two years of rather anomalous trends, especially with regards to the manufacturing industry, in 2022 we should return to a situation of normality. As always, it will be the trend of the manufacturing industry that most affects the packaging industry trend. The influence of inventory movement, which characterised the 2020-2021 period, should come to an end, however, in 2022. The +7% in packaging production recorded in 2021 was, in fact, heavily determined by the need to replenish warehouse stocks, affected during 2020 due to the greater demand for certain types of products, such as, for example, canned food and packaged food in general.

In 2022, prices relating to the materials used to produce packaging showed a generally positive trend until September, to then fall and stabilise in the last part of the year.