China Plastic Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

China Plastic Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The China Plastic Packaging market is expected to register a CAGR of global 2.5 % over the forecast period (2021 - 2026). Owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, food & beverage companies are developing response actions and effective plans to help mitigate their risk and prepare for how they would deal with the effects of the coronavirus. These plans include establishing an interdisciplinary crisis response team of personnel from all aspects of the business to identify, assess, and manage the risk presented. Plastic is extensively used to preserve, transport, and deliver a wide range of products, including pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, and cosmetics.

Key Highlights

• Due to expanding consumer preference for online shopping, the proliferation of payment options, as well as online shopping events, including single-day offers, enticing discounts, and enhanced logistic infrastructure, China is one of the emerging nations where the e-commerce sector is expanding rapidly.
• China is also the world's largest e-commerce market, surpassing United States and the European Union. According to Statista, the number of online buyers has increased from 610.1 million in 2018 to 782.4 million in 2020. The surge is attributed to the global lockdown across various countries.
• Additionally, plastic is a profitable packaging material because of its low cost and high printability. Due to the performance benefits and sustainability, extrusion-based goods such as wraps & films, pouches, and bags are widely employed in most consumer and industrial applications in the country. The intense penetration of organized retail across the country has also contributed significantly to the country's market growth. Polyethylene (PP) is a primary material for plastic packaging bags used in express delivery in the region.
• However, by the end of 2020, China will ban the production and sale of single-use foam plastic tableware, which is made mainly of expandable polystyrene (EPS).
• Furthermore, China has halted importing plastic waste for the past two years, impacting the recycling markets in United States and India. The country enacted stringent legislation prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and use of single-use plastics and limiting the manufacturing, sale, and use of products such as plastic bags, straws, packaging, and tape by companies.

Key Market TrendsE-commerce Industry is Driving the Market

• To reduce transportation costs, e-commerce enterprises prefer lightweight and flexible packaging solutions. The increased popularity of online shopping for regular fresh foods, FMCG products, electronics, and clothing is likely to propel the plastic packaging market.
• The e-commerce boom in China has compelled packaging companies and resellers to explore sustainable packaging alternatives, including recycled plastics. Such initiatives are likely to boost the e-commerce packaging market growth in the coming years.
• Moreover, with the growing usage of plastic packaging in the e-commerce sector, players like Alibaba and JD.com have launched various recycling efforts. For instance, Unilever and Alibaba Group launched the 'Waste Free World' Initiative in March 2021, a first-of-its-kind AI technology-driven closed-loop plastic recycling system in China. Unilever will merge its packaging technologies with Alibaba's business operating system as part of the partnership to encourage consumers to adopt recycling of waste.
• Additionally, there are various factors for the surging e-commerce market in China, such as increasing penetration of smartphones, good retail infrastructure, cross-border regulation, and cost-effective labor. Alibaba announced its 2020 December earnings highlighting surged sales growth of 37% YoY and EBITA growth of 22% YoY while Tmall's GMV increased by 19% YoY.
• Further, In November 2020, Amcor China, Tencent, and BMSmart signed a strategic collaboration framework agreement titled "Internet of Everything, Packaging for the Future. "According to the agreement, the three parties will pool their technologies and power to explore new smart packaging applications on the internet, finance, and other consumer service-related fields, as well as develop end-to-end smart packaging solutions for China's general consumer goods industries.

Bottles are Observing Significant Increase

• Among the most commonly used types of beverage bottles are bottles made from plastics for single use. Plastics are used for producing some of the most common types of beverage bottles. According to Plastic Soup Foundation, 2020, it has been estimated that about one million plastic bottles are sold every minute across the world.
• PET is a popular choice for plastic bottles due to its good strength-to-weight ratio, cost reduction, and transportation savings compared to glass counterparts, and its safety and reliability for consumer products. Considering the manufacturing process, PET is engineered to be a strong yet pliable material that enables its use in different types of plastic bottles. Additionally, its recyclability and the ability to customize it with various colors and designs make it a popular choice.
• Moreover, the introduction of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) polymers is expanding plastic bottling applications.
• Manufacturers are witnessing the expansion in the use of plastic bottles as well as increasing demand for them in some sectors. For instance, in January 2021, Amcor stated that single-serve packaging for value-added dairy, dairy alternatives, and meal replacements increased by double-digits over the past five years, and it is continuing to uncover major opportunities for PET bottles.
• Further, in December 2020, PepsiCo committed to eliminating all virgin plastic from its Pepsi brand beverage bottles selling in the nine European Union markets by 2022. The company plans to package the complete range of beverages under that brand with plastics recycled from post-consumer packaging such as recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or ‘rPET.’ The company anticipated that this move would eliminate more than 70,000 tonnes of virgin, fossil-fuel-based plastic each year.

Competitive Landscape

As the demand for plastic packaging has been increasing significantly in the China region, the market is mildly concentrated with the presence of major players like Amcor, Coveris Holding, Berry Global, Sealed Air Corporation, Constantia Flexibles, among others.

• September 2021 - Silgan Holdings Inc., a prominent supplier of sustainable rigid packaging solutions for consumer goods products, announced the acquisition of Unicep Packaging. As a Specialty Contract Manufacturer and Developer (SCMD) solutions provider, Unicep Packaging, formulates, manufactures, and sells precision dosing dispensing packaging solutions, such as diagnostic test components, oral care applications, and skincare products, primarily for the health care, diagnostics, animal health, oral care, and personal care markets. The acquisition would expand Siligan's precision dosing capabilities and comprehensive product offering into new and existing markets.
• March 2021 - Amcor PLC. announced that it would partner with the non-profit organization Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) at an executive committee level. Joining AEPW would be the company's latest action on waste management and recycling infrastructure and is in line with its Sustainability Pledge to make all its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.

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