From the food industry to high fashion, from cosmetics to luxury products: the packaging plastic free drives the sales of machines that manufacture paper packaging for which a growth of over 50% is expected in the next 4 years. According to the observatory of Acimga – the Confindustrial Association of Italian manufacturers of machinery for the graphic, converting, paper, converting and similar industries – the value of exports will go from 89 million registered in 2020 to 138 million euros in 2024.
The use of paper and cardboard packaging and packaging instead of plastic has grown together with the development of e-commerce, but also with greater attention to environmental sustainability which currently affects many sectors, including that of luxury products. With Europe issuing increasingly stringent directives to reduce the ecological footprint and consumers oriented towards eco-friendly alternatives, the paper industry is expected to continue to grow.
In 2020, the Italian manufacturers who manufacture machines for graphics, printing and paper converting had a turnover of over 2,3 billion euros, of which 1,5 came from sales on foreign markets, where Italy appears to be among the top three exporters in the world, with a market share of almost 10%.
In the last decade, the national paper industry has positioned itself in the high and medium-high price range markets, towards which over 90% of exports are concentrated. The main outlet countries are Spain (where Italian industry today has a market share of almost 20%), France, Russia and the United States, where export values are expected to almost double in the next four years (from the current 12 to 22 million euros in 2024).
An ever-expanding behavior though the 5% drop recorded during the year marked by the pandemic (89 million in 2020 compared to 93 in 2019). But already in 2021 trade in the international markets of paper converting machines will reach the highest levels ever. In particular, according to the forecast models of the Acimga Export Observatory (based on scenario and forecast data from the International Monetary Fund and historical data from the UN Comtrade, Eurostat and the US Census Bureau), exports will break through the 100 million euro mark, to reach 138 million in 2024. Results that would lead Italy (currently the seventh exporter in the world in the sector) to position itself in the top 5 of world producers, behind China, Germany, France and Switzerland.
“Italy has always represented a world reference for all printing, packaging and converting technologies and is among the top three exporters in the world in the sector, with a market share of almost 10% – he stated Andrea Briganti, General Manager and CEO of Acimga -. Our association is an ambassador of the "Made by Italy", i.e. of the machines and the set of knowledge produced in Italy, and has among its priority objectives the internationalization of the 82 member companies, also enhanced through services such as our Observatory, which thanks to an integrated econometric model of demand and competitiveness, it provides a robust estimate of the market scenarios”.
“The paper converting machinery trade has been expanding in the last ten years, during which the volume of business has tripled globally – he added Aldo Peretti, CEO of UTECO Group and president of Acimga -. For our producers it represents a rich, high-margin market: the use of paper and cardboard packaging and packaging has grown together with the development of e-commerce, but also with a sensitivity eco friendly which today also affects luxury products».
