GPMA Editor team

March 24, 2021

Shanghai- Last Friday (Feb 26) witnessed the successful conclusion of the webinar “Optimization and Sustainability of the Corrugated Cardboard Industry in 2021”. Jointly organized by SinoCorrugated and Cámara Argentina de Fabricantes de Cartón Corrugado (CAFCCo), the webinar was joined by over 50 industry insiders, where they discussed how the corrugated industry especially the South American market to revive and thrive in the post-COVID world.

Mr. Mariano Saludjian, General Secretary of CAFCCo kicked off the discussion with an analysis of the South American Corrugated Market in recent years.

Data from ICCA, ABPO, RISI show that:

• South American companies take up 6% of the global corrugated market;
• Argentina and Brazil rank the 7^th and 8^th in per capita consumption of corrugated paper, with the number of 39 sqm and 35 sqm;
• The top 3 South American Countries with the highest GDP per capita are Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Chile and Argentina, with smaller populations than Brazil, have faster GDP growth;
• Brazil produces over 50% of the corrugated box in South America. Argentina comes second, taking up 12% of production;
• In 2020, main buyers of packaging products were fresh produce manufacturers, while other factories consumed relatively less.

Slides in the webinar are shown below:

The Latin America and the Caribbean region will experience a contraction of -7.7% in 2020 but will have a positive growth rate of 3.7% in 2021, due mainly to a statistical rebound that will nonetheless be insufficient for recovering the economic activity levels seen prior to the coronavirus pandemic (in 2019), ECLAC indicated today in a new report.

Currently, the South American corrugated packaging market is gradually recovering under the shock of the pandemic. In the future, pharmaceutical packaging will become a new growth point in Latin America while the Argentine market will focus on small packaging and cheap packaging. Under this circumstance, the corrugated packaging industry in South America, and even the entire packaging industry, is in urgent need a global event that integrates industry trends, innovative technology and equipment, academic analysis, and business exchanges to help accelerate the recovery. The packaging series 7-in-1 exhibitions organized by Reed Exhibitions is a great choice for them.

On July 14-17, 2021, the Cámara Argentina de Fabricantes de Cartón Corrugado (CAFCCo)

will gather professionals from the corrugated packaging industry in South America to participate in SinoCorrugatged 2021 through online group visit. They will communicate with exhibitors about mutual demands with the help of various forms including online tour, online group purchase, webinar, etc.

Viviana Sayegh, Technical Director at Sun Chemical gave a talk about “Innovation and sustainable development of corrugated board”, and shared Sun Chemical’s experience in making its packaging safe and sustainable. For more than 20 years, Sun Chemicals has being providing environmentally-friendly coating and other sustainable solutions like BRC, PCR.

Ms. Sayegh also explained how Sun Chemicals classifies functional coatings and adhesives, and shared some of its latest findings and applications of functional coatings that are durable and reusable as well as food-safe inks like SunVisto®AquaSafe and SunPak®Organic.

The next speaker, Mr. Gustavo Braier, Managing Partner at Braier & Asociados Consultores, focused on software systems that can optimize paper production, lower energy consumption and paper waste. PANDORA, his company’s main product, can offer an ideal solution with lowest scrap rate in the market. Mr. Braier showed how the system works and how it facilitates assessing and decision-making based on data.

Later, Steven Liu, Deputy Marketing Director at Changsha Chaint Cooperation, and Max Tian, International Sales Director of Shenzhen Wonder Printing System Co., Ltd., delivered a detailed analysis of the development of China’s smart logistics as well as digital technology.

When introducing Changtai’s smart logistics solutions, Mr. Liu focused on the AS-RS smart material handling system and whole mill lay-out planning. The company’s equipment has been widely applied in industries like pulp and paper, conversion, chemical fiber, automobiles, railways and so on. Chaint provides more than 80% of China’s paper making equipment, and its products are exported to Southeast Asia, Europe, South America, the United States and to renowned enterprises like IP, P&G, APP, SCG, ABG, etc.

Mr. Tian from Wonder introduced their flagship product WD200+ series, and showed its ability to achieve both fast delivery and customization by taking attendees through the entire production process.

Some of the companies which attended the webinar:

Preview:

The next session for Asia-Pacific market will be online soon. Stay tuned!