Analysis of the Current Development Status of China's Packaging Industry: Green Upgrading of the Packaging Industry Is the General Trend

I. Current Status of the Packaging Industry

In 2020, above-scale enterprises in the national packaging industry achieved sales revenue of 1,006.458 billion yuan, up 0.32 percentage points year on year. Among them, paper and paperboard container manufacturing completed a cumulative main business revenue of 288.474 billion yuan, down 2.53% year on year; plastic film manufacturing completed a cumulative main business revenue of 275.435 billion yuan, down 0.55% year on year; plastic packaging boxes and container manufacturing completed a cumulative main business revenue of 158.462 billion yuan, down 2.49% year on year; metal packaging containers and materials manufacturing completed a cumulative main business revenue of 108.326 billion yuan, down 7.84% year on year;

Packaging processing special equipment manufacturing completed a cumulative main business revenue of 81.056 billion yuan, up 21.05% year on year; glass packaging container manufacturing completed a cumulative main business revenue of 57.679 billion yuan, down 1.8% year on year; cork products and other wood products manufacturing completed a cumulative main business revenue of 37.025 billion yuan, down 6.71% year on year.

Source: China Packaging Federation, compiled by Huajing Industry Research Institute

Source: China Packaging Federation, compiled by Huajing Industry Research Institute

From 2015 to 2020, the number of above-scale enterprises in China's packaging industry (all industrial legal-person enterprises with annual main business revenue of 20 million yuan and above) showed a steadily rising trend. This reflects the gradual increase in industry participants and increasingly fierce market competition. According to statistics from the China Packaging Federation, in 2020 there were 8,183 above-scale enterprises in China's packaging industry, an increase of 267 over 2019.

Source: China Packaging Federation, compiled by Huajing Industry Research Institute

II. Current Status of the Packaging Paper Industry

Divided by packaging material, the packaging industry falls into four major categories: paper packaging, plastic packaging (including plastic film), metal packaging and glass packaging, among which paper packaging has always occupied a dominant position in the packaging industry.

According to data from the China Paper Association, in 2020 the output of packaging paper was 7.05 million tonnes, up 1.44% year on year; consumption was 6.99 million tonnes, down 0.3% year on year. On the whole, domestic packaging paper depends to a certain extent on the import market.

Source: China Paper Association, compiled by Huajing Industry Research Institute

Source: China Paper Association, compiled by Huajing Industry Research Institute

Related report: "2021-2026 China Packaging Industry Market Supply and Demand Pattern and Industry Prospect Outlook Report" released by Huajing Industry Research Institute

In 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, people stayed at home for long periods and mainly purchased goods through online shopping, causing China's packaging paper consumption to rise rapidly; packaging paper output could not meet domestic demand, so imports were used to meet domestic demand. This caused China's packaging paper imports to rise substantially in 2020, with an increase of 55%. At the same time, exports also maintained an upward trend, with an increase of 12.5% in 2020.

Source: China Paper Association, compiled by Huajing Industry Research Institute

Source: China Paper Association, compiled by Huajing Industry Research Institute

III. Characteristics of China's Packaging Industry

1. Low technical barriers in the industry, relatively small differences in specificity between products, and relatively full market competition. China's packaging industry is fully open to operation and is an industry the government encourages investment in, with few restrictive measures and relatively easy entry and exit of capital. Market competition is fierce, the scale of enterprises varies greatly, and industry concentration is very low.
2. Packaging enterprises are mainly concentrated in large and medium-sized cities and economically developed areas along the eastern coast; multinational companies also set up factories in developed areas first and then gradually extended inland. The degree of development of the packaging industry in a region is directly related to the degree of economic development of that region, because the packaging industry serves other manufacturing industries and is to a large extent dependent on the development of other industries.
3. Few technical personnel and insufficient innovation capacity. Packaging enterprises need to increase upfront investment in technological transformation, encourage innovation, bring in funds from multiple parties, expand production scale, raise production concentration, and carry out the technological transformation necessary for circular production and cleaner production, so as to adapt to the needs of the state's macro-control under the scientific development concept and to enhance market competitiveness; this should be a pressing task for China's packaging industry.
4. Competitive methods are mainly price competition, and competition between brands is not obvious. Because the quality differences of packaging products are small, as the degree of packaging market segmentation increases, the focus of market competition is brand competition, conducted in the form of price wars, but there is a lack of leading brands with an absolute advantage.

IV. Measures for the Green Upgrading of the Packaging Industry

1. Improve policy incentive measures

First, increase support for the green transformation and upgrading of packaging enterprises, give rewards for the adoption and promotion of green packaging materials and green packaging technologies, and provide incentives for merchants and express delivery companies that reuse packaging products. Second, support R&D on common key technologies such as green design of packaging products, green recycling, and the utilization of recycled raw materials. Third, accelerate the establishment of an exit mechanism for non-eco-friendly packaging and gradually achieve the comprehensive greening of packaging. Fourth, use policy instruments such as government green procurement, green taxation and green finance to accelerate the promotion of green packaging products, technologies and services.

1. Improve the standards and regulations system

First, refine and enrich packaging standards for various categories and specifications, raise indicators and measurement requirements for energy saving, water saving and material saving, accelerate the formulation and revision of standards on energy consumption, water consumption, carbon emissions and cleaner production, and enhance the standardization level of green development in the packaging industry. Second, accelerate the formulation of green design evaluation standards for express packaging materials and products, and continue to publish lists of green design packaging materials and products. Third, formulate management measures for the recovery and disposal of packaging waste, especially express packaging waste, and improve the standards and specifications for the recovery and disposal of packaging waste as well as association standards in the field of extended producer responsibility. Fourth, accelerate the revision of relevant provisions of the "Cleaner Production Promotion Law" and the "Circular Economy Promotion Law", and add mandatory provisions; it is suggested to carry out basic research work on special legislation for packaging, draw on international experience, and consider formulating relevant regulations on packaging.

1. Strengthen the supply of green products

First, support express packaging enterprises in implementing green design, promote simplified, reduced, reusable and refined green design technologies, design and produce green express packaging products, and promote the green upgrading of the express packaging industry. Second, support packaging enterprises in developing, applying and promoting new green packaging materials, gradually prohibit the production of non-degradable ultra-thin plastic and other packaging materials, and promote the use of degradable adhesive tape, eco-friendly fillers, renewable paper and packaging items printed with eco-friendly inks and other auxiliary materials. Third, increase R&D efforts on green and intelligent packaging technologies, equipment and processes, and promote the expansion and upgrading of the supply of green packaging products.

1. Build a green supply chain

First, support packaging enterprises in carrying out green design, selecting green materials, adopting green technologies and processes, and properly recovering and handling waste packaging products, so as to achieve green environmental protection throughout the whole life cycle of packaging products. Second, encourage downstream enterprises and merchants to choose green packaging products, driving the green development of upstream packaging materials, packaging design and packaging manufacturing. Third, select appropriate packaging product varieties (such as paper packaging products and plastic products), promote the implementation of the extended producer responsibility system by packaging enterprises, and improve the packaging waste recovery and disposal system through reverse logistics.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-379433.html