Smithers forecasts extra growth in the $132.8 billion folding carton packaging market, and anticipates consumption volume for folding cartons to double in growth for the Australasian region in the period between 2025-2030.
Globally, Smithers predicts consumption of cartonboard will reach 56.3 million tonnes in 2025, valued at $58.9 billion. This will be converted into 52.4 million tonnes of packaging, with a value of $132.8 billion.
The new market report – The Future of Folding Cartons to 2030 – shows that demand will push global consumption of folding cartons to 63.1 million tonnes in 2030, with value increasing to $159.6 billion at constant pricing.
Demand for cartonboard and microflute packaging is found to be driven by the global trend towards sustainability in many markets, not least in packaging. This is seeing a marked trend away from plastic packaging formats in favour of paper-based solutions. The report finds that there is general growth in demand from the emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.
Smithers identifies the top applications where cartonboard is poised to take market share from plastics, and these include collation and shrink-wrap films used in consumer multi-packs, trays for fresh produce and foodservice applications, and the development of all paper blisters for products like stationery.
The report finds growth to be highest in confectionery, chilled food, food service, soft drinks and beer segments, while the greatest share of increased incremental demand across 2025-2030 will come from healthcare customers.
According to Smithers, this reflects mainly new sales into developing regions of Asia, accompanied by some design innovation in mature markets.
The report finds that folding boxboard (FBB) and coated recycled board/white-lined chipboard (CRB/WLC) to be the most widely used folding carton grades – together accounting for 83.8 per cent of contemporary demand.
Smithers said that across 2025-2030, FBB will continue to grow market share, with new paper machines coming online in Brazil, China and elsewhere in Asia.
Extra capacity for solid bleached board/sulfate (SBB/S) is also now coming on stream, which Smithers said will support further sales over this period. In contrast, Smithers finds that sales of solid unbleached board/sulfate (SUB/S) and uncoated recycled board (URB) grades will continue to track below the market average.
The Future of Folding Cartons to 2030 is available from Smithers, priced $6750. Click here to purchase.
