Wooden packaging

Industrial packaging, boxes, pallets and corks: market trend in Italy and industrial outlets of the various types.

Barbara Iascone
Istituto Italiano Imballaggio

According to the classification used in “Imballaggio in cifre” (Packaging in figures, published by the Italian Packaging Institute) and shared with all the competent bodies, wooden packaging is divided as follows:

• industrial packaging;
• wooden boxes;
• pallet;
• corks;

While three of these categories are well defined and representative of a specific type of packaging, the one related to industrial packaging is more articulated and includes different types of packaging.

In fact, we find here the structures for the transport of machinery or plants, i.e. crates and cages designed and manufactured according to the characteristics and dimensions of the products they will contain. However, this category also includes reels used to wrap wires and cables of various kinds (electrical, metal, optical fiber, etc..), boxes for spirits and fine wines and corks.

Sectors data

In 2019, the production units remained stable compared to 2018, at around 2,057 units and the turnover increased by 1% to 1,609 million euros.

The area of wooden packaging is closely linked to the manufacturing industry because, being mostly composed of transport packaging, these are used in almost all sectors, with a demand that expands between domestic and foreign markets. 

In terms of tons produced, they represent about 16% of the total packaging sector in Italy, while from the point of view of turnover, they represent 5%.

In 2019, the wood packaging sector recorded a growth rate of production of +0.1% compared to 2018 (stable trend), and based on estimates of turnover, the trend is up 1%.

As far as foreign trade is concerned, there was a drop in exports (-4.9%) while imports grew by 2.1%. It should be noted that, as far as exports are concerned, both pallets and industrial packaging are decreasing.

Almost 75% of production is represented by pallets, which alone positively influence the trend of the sector, bringing 2019 to +1.5% compared to the previous year and thus reaching 2,040 t/000. Analyzing the outlet sectors, in 2019 21.2% of the pallets produced in Italy were destined to the beverage and liquid food sector, about 22.5% to the food sector and 22.7% to non-food consumer goods (cosmetics, household detergents, etc.).

Chemical products absorb 4.9% of pallet production in Italy, while the remaining 28.9% is destined to the other non-food sector.

Negative trend for industrial packaging, with production at -6.4% (about 480,000 t). After the decidedly positive trend recorded in 2017, exports contracted already in 2018 to -7% in 2019. Imports were also down (-10% compared to 2018).

The decline in the production of fruit and vegetable crates was also confirmed (-2.7%, with 180,000 t).

The wood packaging area also includes corks. Although, in terms of quantity, the sector “moves” a few tons of product, it is confirmed to be noteworthy at national level. With almost 300 million euros of production and about 600 companies in the territory - as Assoimballaggi reports - the cork stoppers sector is a sector with interesting growth in the last three years. 90% of the production is destined to the domestic market, and 10% goes abroad, the main destination is China, followed by France and the United States. Imports come mainly from Portugal, France and Spain and amount to about 166 million euros.

Raw materials quotations

In 2019, the average price quotations of the items related to the raw materials used to produce wood packaging monitored at the Milan Chamber of Commerce, all show an increase of about 2%, except for those related to third-party assortment pallets, which fell by -9.7%. This trend is consistent with the trend shown for turnover.