The plastic packaging market in France

Plastic packaging is ubiquitous in the retail sector, and is used to display, preserve and transport consumer products such as cosmetics, food products (fruit and vegetables, meat, etc.) and cleaning products.

As with cardboard packaging, which is expanding mainly thanks to e-commerce, plastic packaging has also become indispensable, thanks to its versatility, which enables us to produce packaging of varying rigidity, transparency and complexity.

In 2021, French plastic packaging manufacturers finally returned to growth in the second quarter.

The cosmetics packaging segment posted the strongest growth. The fact that the majority of manufacturers are reporting a jump or stabilization in their activity is unexpected (but we'll explain why later in the study), given that the pandemic caused a sharp decline in the cosmetics market, and in make-up in particular. The trend now seems to be reversing, as the prospect of further confinements recedes.

Two-thirds of plastic medical and pharmaceutical packaging manufacturers reported stable business in the second quarter of 2021 compared with the previous quarter. 29% of players saw their business increase, and only 4% reported a decrease. After exploding during the health crisis, demand for medical and pharmaceutical packaging finally appears to be stabilizing.

Manufacturers of plastic food packaging, for their part, reported more stable business than in other segments. in fact, 62% of them feel that their business has remained stable compared with the first quarter of 2021, compared with 31% who report an increase. Only 7% are experiencing a slowdown in business.

However, the sector is relatively fragile in France, given the presence of German, Italian and Spanish plastic packaging manufacturers. Over the past 10 years, this has led to a significant concentration of players in the sector, with a dozen or so major groups now controlling most of the market.

However, new growth drivers exist for smaller players, as French consumer habits are tending to evolve towards greater consideration of eco-design for packaging. With European environmental regulations, this is a major challenge for a sector that absolutely must develop more environmentally-friendly plastic packaging.

This market study includes an interview with a market expert: Sébastien Wolff, Managing Director of Reborn