How much does the packaging industry represent in Europe?

A lot, the numbers are really consistent if we consider that in 2019 the European Union had a turnover of 139 billion of euro and that in the lead we find Germany, followed by Italy and in third position France. As Tiziano Polito, tells us, the French packaging market is one of the most important in Europe.

According to INSEE, which publishes these data, France is the third European producer behind Germany and Italy. 

18.3 billion euros: this is the turnover represented by the packaging industry in France in 2019 according to an INSEE report.

The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies has measured the invoicing of products manufactured on the French territory, coming from 1,460 units connected to this sector of activity and representing the 3.8% of sales in the manufacturing industry.

As you might expect, plastic and cardboard have the largest share. In detail, sales generated by plastic packaging amounted to 6.9 billion euros, or 38% of the total, while paper-cardboard represented 5.3 billion (29%) and metal, glass and wood 2 billion each (11%).

The employment data refer to the financial year 2017. INSEE had 79,450 employees in the sector, or 4.7% of jobs in industry non-food manufacturing.

Normandy and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté are the regions with the highest number of jobs in the packaging sector, with 7.9% and 7.6% of the total.

Small companies in the wood and plastic sector

The structure of the companies is rather fragmented. In the wood sector, 70% of the factories have fewer than 20 employees. In plastic and paper-cardboard packaging, this ratio rises to 39% and 37%.

Conversely, in glass and metal, where the processes are characterized by greater capital intensity, companies with less than 20 employees represent only 25% and 5% of the total.

France ranks third in Europe for packaging production. The turnover of the sector was 138.1 billion euros in the European Union in 2019, France contributes 13% to this total behind Germany (20%) and Italy (15%).

France holds the first European place in the production of wooden packaging with 20% of the turnover and the second for plastic packaging (15%).

His contribution for paper-cardboard packaging is more modest: 10%, that is half less than Germany with 21%. In this case, if at a national level plastic dominates, elsewhere in Europe paper-cardboard packaging represents the largest share of turnover: 55.5 billion euros, or 40% of the sector's sales.

On the international trade front, the trade balance showed a deficit of 1.7 billion euros in 2019. French imports amounted to 7.3 billion of Euro.

82% of them come from EU countries. With 603 million euros in imports, China is the fourth largest supplier. Elsewhere in Europe, paper-cardboard packaging accounts for the largest share of invoices: 55.5 billion euros, or 40% of the branch's sales.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.