Turnover, production and trade balance of the sector at a glance: at a general level, the assumed pre-consumption gives an insight into a resilient and growing sector.
Barbara Iascone
The data for the packaging industry for the year 2021 show us a sector in excellent health, with a 7% increase in production levels thanks to a physiological recovery, projecting the amount of empty packaging produced in Italy at 18,194 t/000.
As in the case of most manufacturing sectors, 2021 therefore saw a positive trend in production, overcoming the heavy losses recorded in 2020. This was not the case for the packaging industry, which also recorded +0.6% in 2020.
Based on preliminary assumptions, 2022 should see a confirmation of the positive trend in packaging production, expressed in tons. With a growth rate of around +2.4%, the volume of packaging should exceed 18,600 t/000.
Production will certainly be boosted by exports, which, according to the latest ISTAT data, are growing by 5%, but the domestic market has also played its part, thanks to imports, which are growing by +20%. And it is precisely the trend in imports that we should keep an eye on, as they have been growing steadily and continuously: in the last 15 years they have grown at an average annual rate of +5.5% (bear in mind that exports have grown at an average annual rate of +1.2% over the same period).
As a result, we have seen a decline in the balance of trade between exports and imports, which, although still positive, has fallen at an average annual rate of 10.6%. Apparent capacity utilisation, which excludes changes in inventories, is expected to increase by +4.4%.
After two years of rather abnormal trends, especially in manufacturing, we should return to a more normal situation in 2022. As always, it will be the performance of the manufacturing sector that will influence trends in the packaging industry. However, 2022 should also see the end of the impact of the inventory movements that characterised the two-year period 20-21. In fact, the 7% increase in packaging production recorded in 2021 was largely driven by the need to replenish stocks, which were depleted in 2020 due to higher demand for certain types of products, such as canned food and packaged food in general.
In 2022, quotations for materials used in the production of packaging generally showed an upward trend until September, after which they declined and stabilised in the second half of the year.
