2011 was undoubtedly an eventful year for global plastic enterprises. First, the U.S. debt crisis, then the European debt crisis, the European banking crisis and the U.S. banking crisis. After a series of crises, the global stock market continued to plummet. The major stock markets in Europe fell by more than 30%. It is difficult for the Asia Pacific stock market to survive, and they are all hitting record lows

According to the survey report of the global packaging industry outlook 2011-2012: industry dynamics, market trends and opportunities, buyer spending and procurement strategy recently released by the Market Research Institute ICD Research Institute, 59% of the respondents believe that the growth rate of their business revenue in the next 12 months will exceed that of the previous year. Packaging buyers are generally optimistic about the development prospect of the industry in 2011, mainly based on the strong growth of emerging markets such as India and China, the reduction of global economic uncertainties, the innovation of sales model and the improvement of production efficiency. In addition, the report believes that under the influence of industry integration and sustainable development strategy, flexible packaging will become the fastest-growing field in the packaging industry. In addition, the improvement of recycling technology and the birth of disposable packaging materials will help packaging enterprises further improve their winning interest rate

Price cost pressure is still the focus of carton processing plants

According to the survey, the innovative packaging solutions expected to be launched before the end of 2011 mainly include: easy to peel packaging, easy to open sterile cartons, protective packaging, steam valves used to disperse different products, adhesives and shrink sleeve labels

At present, the three fastest growing regions in the packaging industry are North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The three hot spots are growing rapidly. The strict law enforcement of the U.S. government in the food and beverage industry has forced packaging suppliers to increase investment in R & D. At the same time, consumers' urgent demand for packaging materials for disposable beverage bottles has promoted the development of this market in Germany

In addition, the sustained economic growth in the Asia Pacific region has increased the demand for packaging in Singapore and other countries. India and China are also considered to be the packaging import markets with the most growth potential

At the same time, mergers and acquisitions will further intensify. Executives of packaging buyer companies generally believe that business mergers will continue to increase in the next year, which is recognized by 49% of respondents

Affected by the rise of international crude oil prices, the profit pressure of packaging enterprises continues to increase, and the cost of raw materials is also rising. Therefore, they hope to reduce operating expenses or production costs through mergers and acquisitions

Rising raw material prices, price pressure and cost control are the three most concerned issues in the global packaging industry. With the continuous turmoil of the oil market, the operating costs faced by enterprises are also increasing. Therefore, they need to take various means to control costs, such as using intelligent technologies such as robots to improve production efficiency

From 2009 to 2010, 63% of packaging enterprises regarded the rising price of raw materials as their No. 1 competitor, and 54% of respondents thought their price pressure was too high

As raw material prices continue to rise, many enterprises are looking for innovative solutions to reduce costs, such as using cheap and renewable packaging materials such as paperboard

Take Flint's European company as an example. Due to the shortage of important raw materials and the rise in the price of basic chemicals, the company has been trying to reduce the price of its ink, and packaging enterprises also hope to reduce their raw material costs through mass procurement

Packaging market characteristics of five major European countries

The history of European packaging industry, due to the different processes adopted in the process of industrialization, the characteristics of European packaging industry vary from country to country

1. England

British packaging is an important industry of British economy, but it does not exist independently, but is connected with other industries, such as food and beverage, personal care, medicine and chemical industry, etc. British packaging industry plays an important role in light industry and heavy industrial products, accounting for 3.3% of the global total and 13% of Europe

The annual consumption of packaging materials in Britain is 9.6 million tons, which is lower than that in European countries, but also accounts for 5% of the production industry. 70% - 80% of the packaging materials are used for light industrial consumer goods, and the rest are used in industries, such as large-scale chemical, machinery and agricultural industries. The packaging Federation estimates that there are 2000 packaging material production companies in the UK, with 100000 employees, accounting for 3% of the employees in the UK production department. The largest concentration areas are located in northwest England, East Midland, Yorkshire and hamber, where 40% of employees are concentrated

The printing industry is also one of the largest industries in Britain, serving other industries. The characteristics of market dispersion are fully reflected in the differences in enterprise structure: less than 20 printing companies employ more than 500 employees, while more than 550 small companies need only 50 to 499 employees

2. France

The total output value of France's packaging industry exceeds 18 billion euros, solving more than 105000 jobs. The development trend of French packaging industry: first, the growth of the use of plastic packaging; Second, enhance environmental awareness, such as the development of fully degradable packaging

3. Italy

The success of Italian carton processing plant industry mainly depends on: first, flexible product system and positive technological innovation. The second is customer-oriented. In order to meet the requirements of different customers, Italian machinery has spent a lot of effort on planning, testing, quality inspection and customer analysis. White collar workers account for 65% of the total number of employees. Third, large groups are highly comprehensive, and small and medium-sized enterprises seek excellence and expertise. Fourth, the whole industrial framework on which the company relies for development is very sophisticated, and pays attention to cultivating young forces

All Italian products have benefited from export growth, but to varying degrees. As for the weighing and labeling machinery of articles before packaging, although their proportion in the export composition is second only to the first filling, sealing, capsule, labeling and packing machinery, it has also been close to 30% to 70%. These machines, which ranked first in output, increased by 17.6% over the previous year in 2002, but suffered a decline of 7.2% in 2003

Imports from Europe and the United States are declining, while demand from Asia is growing. For Europe, the decline in Germany, Switzerland and Austria is very obvious, while Sweden (limited to related products of the beverage industry), France and the UK are growing. The US share of Italy has been shrinking, falling to 6%. The share of Japan and China in 2004 was 2.6% and 1% respectively, but both were growing

4. Greece

Greece's growing packaging industry is one of the most dynamic industries in Greece. The products can be mainly divided into semi flexible packaging materials (bottle, bag, paper and film) and hard packaging materials (containers, drum water storage tanks, barrels, beer cups, large containers, cups, vases and small containers)

In recent years, large enterprises in Banke region have shown a trend of developing abroad. In addition, many companies expand their product categories and strive for market share through mergers and acquisitions. The demand for plastic packaging materials mainly comes from China and has increased greatly in recent years. In the past 10 years, the domestic consumption of plastic packaging materials has increased at an annual growth rate of 5.2%

An EU study on food processing in Greece listed several development trends, among which it was mentioned that the trend of canning and heat treatment would be cans (17%), glass containers (8%), plastic containers (64%) and cartons (11%). At the same time, it is also believed that the great potential and positioning of local raw materials lies in the combination of export and product diversification, which will bring considerable development. Greece's consumption of packaging materials for carton processing plants is the least in Europe, so there is room for development, as long as plastics can seize a greater share in the competition with other materials. If the existing conditions remain unchanged, the annual growth of plastic packaging can be maintained at 2% to 3% in the next two years

5. Belgium

Belgium is the top country in per capita production and processing of plastics. The packaging industry is divided into paper, box, metal, wood and glass packaging, but the most important is plastic packaging

The per capita share of plastic products in Belgium is 430kg, and the per capita share of plastic processed products is about 175KG. Most film products are made of plastic, and blow molding film and injection film are common products in the plastic packaging industry. Because of the diversity of processing technologies and means, plastic packaging can be cut and made according to product needs to meet various needs of customers

Packaging products made of plastics are divided into soft packaging and hard packaging: the total output value of soft packaging (metal foil packaging, packaging bags, in box packaging bags, etc.) is 829 million euros, accounting for 89% of exports. The total output value of hard packaging is 404 million euros, and exports account for 65%

Conclusion from the perspective of market analysis and market development characteristics of European countries, for global packaging enterprises, quality, price and service level are the three magic weapons for packaging suppliers to participate in market competition. In addition, an enterprise's environmental protection record and sense of social responsibility are also worthy of attention. Similarly, packaging buyers also need to pay attention to three issues in the procurement process, namely, reducing internal operating costs, looking for lower price resources and working with selected packaging suppliers to reduce costs

The improvement of customer service and the reduction of cost are very important for packaging buyers. Packaging suppliers can help customers optimize production processes and reduce costs through technology R & D and developing special IT solutions. For example, the cost optimization packaging system developed by the packaging center of Singapore Institute of standards and industry can reduce the distribution cost and logistics cost of packaging products by optimizing the use of space and packaging materials