Tackling the Corrugated Market

Where is the next potential big market when it comes to packaging? In general, the packaging industry is expected to surge in the coming years due to the rising average disposal income of the emerging markets. The reason behind is because packaging often related to groceries and health care products, as the people become wealthier, they are expected to spend more on these products. Today we are going to look into a market where most see highly of, the Corrugated.

According to Mordor Intelligence market report, the corrugated board packaging market was valued at USD 262.61 billion in 2019, and it is expected to reach USD 339.95 billion by 2025, providing a CAGR of 4.41% over the next 5 years.

Here are a few main reasons for the surge in the corrugated market, which includes

The surge in Global Trade

As the economic environment becomes more global and trading becomes more frequent, the need for containers to protect the product during regional or global shipment rises. It is found that the regions that are highly export orientated tends to have a large corrugated market.

The surge in the Ecommerce Business

As the eCommerce business surges, the demand for shipment also rises. According to Smithers report, the global online sales are expected to go over USD 5.5 trillion in 2023. As more and more transactions are conducted online, where products are ordered online and delivered through physical logistics, the need for corrugated packaging increases.

Cost Reduction Logistics

As we have discussed above that the shipment demand has surged and is expected to surge continuously, the competition towards cheaper logistics cost is on. One method to reduce the logistics cost is to reduce the weight of the delivered good. Some markets are using lightweight cardboard, some markets are using heavyweight cardboard to replace wooden packaging all with the goal to reduce the overall shipment weight.

The Surge in Environmental Awareness

As customers are demanding for more environmentally friendly packaging. Corrugated board demands are expected to surge. The corrugated board is considered environmentally friendly since they could be made of recyclable materials. Many companies are recycling used corrugated packages and re-manufacturing it for reuse. On average corrugated packaging comprises 88% recycled content. Statistically has shown that near 90% of the corrugated packages are recycled every year.

Ok, now we know the reasons for the expected surge in the corrugated market, let's talk about how the print designs on the corrugated board could be produced during production.

The first method is to print directly onto the corrugated board, which we call post-print. In this method printing are done on the wavy surface of the corrugated board. This is an older method of production.

The second method is called the pre-print. This is where reels of paper are printed usually on a roll to roll machine before corrugating. The benefit of this production methodology is to be able to create a higher printing quality when compared to the post print. To be able to produce at a much faster speed than post-print.

In conclusion, the corrugated board market is expected to surge in the coming years. To capture this market, you may choose to produce corrugated boards using the post-print method or the pre-print method depending on your sales order. You are welcome to discuss your business requirements with KYMC.

Article by Daywey Chen, KYMC