The packaging trade show ALL4PACK Emballage Paris wished to find out what impact the Covid-19 crisis had on the use of packaging by the French population. A survey was conducted by IFOP on behalf of the show in May 2020, and brought to light changes in the behaviour of some French people.
Packaging: extremely useful The IFOP survey, conducted on a representative sample of 1001 people, shows that the majority of French people find packaging to be extremely or very useful. This proportion is higher among older people (66% compared with 22% among the 18-24 range), which shows a generational gap in perceptions.
Packaging plays a primordial role in the safety of products, and therefore of consumers. The French seem to be fully aware of the fact, and more acutely so since the Covid crisis. However, this utility comes up against a strong and lasting desire in society for change in the design and use of this packaging so as better to address to environmental issues and challenges.
Changes in behaviour with the Covid-19 epidemic
While 60% of respondents said that they had not changed their behaviour with regard to packaging, 40% say that they today buy more products with packaging since the Covid-19 health crisis. An even higher proportion make this choice in the north and east regions (48%) and in large metropolitan regions (45%) where the spread of the virus was more severe.
This difference in behaviour can be explained by the protective function provided by packaging and which appears set to continue.
What view of sustainable packaging?
The findings of the survey furthermore show that a substantial majority of the French (61%) believe that manufacturers do not make enough effort in the design of sustainable packaging. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of a “red card” from consumers (the most negative grade was only chosen by 17% of respondents).
The majority of those surveyed placed themselves in the “probably” positive or negative categories, illustrating an absence of certainty in this area, undoubtedly owing to lack of knowledge about the actions taken by manufacturers.
A FEW KEY MARKET FIGURES
The global packaging market was estimated to be worth 1,002.48 billion USD in 2021. It is expected to reach 1,275.06 billion USD by 2027. (Source: Mondor Intelligence)
France
With total sales of 18.3 billion euros in 2019, France is the third largest packaging producer in Europe (13% of production) behind Germany (20%) and Italy (15%). Only wooden packaging is exported in greater quantity than it is imported into France. The other types of packaging show a negative trade balance: – €1.1 billion for paper and cardboard, – €0.5 billion for plastic, – €0.4 billion for metal and -€7.3 million for glass.
The sector’s sales mainly come from plastic packaging (€6.9 billion, or 38% of total invoices), followed by paper and cardboard packaging (€5.3 billion, or 29% of sales), then metal, glass and wooden packaging (€2.0 billion each, or 11% of sales). (Source: INSEE – 2021)
The packaging industry in France across all sectors, forecasts approximately 2% market growth per year on average between now and 2025. (Source: Xerfi – 2021)
In mainland France, establishments whose main activity is the production of packaging employ 79,450 people, i.e., 4.7% of jobs in the non-food manufacturing industry. This percentage is higher in the administrative regions of Normandy (7.9%) and Burgundy-Franche-Comté (7.6%).
Packaging production is a labour-intensive industry with a quite fragmented structure, particularly in wooden packaging (70% of establishments have fewer than 20 employees) and, to a lesser extent, plastic (39%) and paper-cardboard (37%) packaging. The metal and glass packaging industries have more large establishments; the percentage of establishments with less than 20 employees is only 25% and 5% respectively. (Source: INSEE – 2017)
Europe
In the European Union (EU), the production of packaging production is estimated to be worth 138.1 billion euros. France is the European leader in the production of wooden packaging, accounting for 20% of all European sales, and lies in second place for plastic packaging (15% of European invoices).
Its contribution is more modest for paper and cardboard packaging (10%, only half as much as Germany’s 21% share). While plastic packaging is the mainstay of production in France, paper and cardboard packaging accounts for the largest proportion of invoicing in Europe: €55.5 billion, or 40% of branch sales.
In Germany, paper/cardboard and plastic packaging dominate, and the country also distinguishes itself through its substantial production of metal packaging. Italy makes its largest contribution to European output in paper and cardboard production: for this type of packaging, the country occupies second place in Europe.
