Packaginghas seen rapid development in Vietnam, driven by a growing demand forconsumer goods and foodstuffs. This year’s estimated gross domesticproduct (GDP) growth of approximately six percent has also created afoundation for the recovery of retail indexes and the development ofsupport industries, including the packaging sector.
In addition,soon-to-be-signed bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements(FTAs) like the Vietnam-EU FTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)are expected to sharply increase Vietnam’s export contracts (especiallythose for seafood and garment products), which will also result instrong demand for packaging products.
These favorable tendencieshave made packaging one of the most rapidly developing industries inVietnam. According to the Vietnam Packaging Association (Vinpas), theaverage annual growth of the sector was 15-20 percent. At present,Vietnam has more than 900 packaging factories, about 70 percent of whichare located in the southern region of the country. The market may bedivided into five major areas, including plastic packaging;cardboard/paper; metal containers; and others.
According to theVietnam Plastic Association, over the past years, the plastic packagingsector has been growing strongly at 25 percent per year thanks to thestrong growth of food and foodstuff industries. Packaging manufacturershave invested in advanced production lines and supplied to the marketvarious types of high-grade packaging products that could meet strictstandards on food hygiene safety.
The prices of input materialsfor packaging production have also declined, partly due to the slowgrowth of the Chinese economy, which lowered demand for industrial paperstocks. The prices of PET bottle products also reduced following thefalling prices of plastic raw materials as a result of a sharp decreaseof petroleum prices.
At present, a relatively high number ofenterprises are participating in the packaging market with differenttypes of products such as papers, plastics, metal membranes and PETbottles. The market segment also sees a clear separation between tradersserving small-scale customers and big names of packaging manufacturersoccupying most of big customers. For example, big brands such as NgocNghia, Bao Van; Tan Tien Plastic and Rang Dong Plastic are accountingfor a significant market share of the environmentally-friendly PETbottles while the paper packaging for dairy products belonged to TetraPak (Sweden) and Combibloc (Germany) due to the high technologyrequirements.
With a high population and a rapid development ofthe packaging sector for consumer goods, packaging production ispredicted to continue expanding.
The paper quoted economicexperts as saying that packaging products and bags will continue to beproduced and sell well in the coming time due to their common usage andadvantages in terms of production costs thanks to its light weight,energy-efficiency and especially a quick profit recovery. The industrywill also have closer links with canned products thanks to itscontinuous innovation in terms of improved quality and conveniences.-VNA