Packaging Europe: Cardboard and Carton in a New Ceresana Market Study

KONSTANZ, Germany - May 20, 2025 - PRLog -- Packaging is always done: The demand for folding cartons, boxes, corrugated cardboard rolls, and other packaging materials is increasing. E-commerce and mail order are continuing to grow steadily. The new Ceresana market study forecasts that demand for these plant fiber casings will increase by an average of 1.1% per year until 2033. Apart from some regions with real wage growth, such as Portugal, falling purchasing power is dampening consumer sentiment in Europe. Nevertheless, demand for packaging is increasing in individual sectors of the economy, particularly for online retail, electrical appliances, pharmaceuticals and medicine, but also for chilled food.

Market Trend towards Sustainable Transport Packaging

Paperboard and cartonboard manufacturers are suffering from inflation and high costs for energy and raw materials. Recently, the price of base paper in particular has risen sharply. The new EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which aims to make the entire packaging sector more sustainable and environmentally friendly, gives the corrugated cardboard industry hope. After all, corrugated cardboard is a genuine circular product made from renewable raw materials, predominantly manufactured from waste paper and fresh fibers from broken and thinned wood, combined with organic adhesive made from plant starch. Paper fibers can be recycled up to 20 times. After use, cardboard packaging can often simply be composted. To relief the packaging industry, original EU plans for a ban on small corrugated packaging for food and for a general preference for reusable packaging have been abandoned.

Cardboard in Combination with Plastic

The current market study by Ceresana looks at the demand for corrugated cardboard packaging for 10 individual application areas, such as food, beverages, fashion, furniture, and chemical products. For shipping packaging, individual sub-segments are analyzed. Plastics continue to displace other materials in some areas of the packaging market. For example, beverage cartons are being replaced by PET bottles for fruit juices and polyethylene bottles (HDPE) for milk. Different packaging materials are also increasingly being combined, although this makes it more difficult to recycle them by type. Primary packaging made of plastic, for example, is combined with outer packaging made of carton, which is easy to print on. Shelf-ready transport packaging is becoming increasingly important as an advertising medium and marketing space. In addition to folding cartons and rectangular carton packaging, the Ceresana market study also includes cans, fiber drums, and other packaging made of rigid paper stock among the packaging made of solid cardboard and cartonboard.

Further Information on the New Edition of the Market Study "Corrugated Board, Solid Board, and Cartonboard – Europe Report" (3rd Edition): https://ceresana.com/en/produkt/corrugated-board-market-r...