France Plastic Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023-2028)

France Plastic Packaging market is expected to register a CAGR of 2.21% over the forecast period.

Key Highlights

• The usage of rigid plastics in food packaging continues to be significantly influenced by the rising trend toward mobility and convenience. Additionally, the use of PET bottles is driven by the rise in on-the-go consumption and the demand for portion control. Further, hot beverages would continue to be the primary driver of flexible packaging material utilization during the projection period. Increased demand for feminine hygiene products would drive flexible packaging growth through the forecast period.
• Moreover, the main attributes driving the use of rigid plastics across industries in the country are their affordability, toughness, portability, and low weight. The expansion of flexible packaging is also driven by its affordability, adaptability to various forms and sizes, and simplicity of closing.
• The increasing regulations in the country against the use of plastic are anticipated to affect the market for plastic packaging in the country. For instance, in December 2020, the French Parliament's lower chamber passed a law to ban all single-use plastic products and packaging after 2040 and a raft of measures to ramp up reuse and recycling. Various environmentalists complained that the 2040 deadline, plus targets for ending the use of plastic cups, plates, cutlery, and straws, starting in 2021 instead of 2020, as initially planned, needs to be faster.
• The country has been witnessing a mixed environment for the use and ban of plastic. The environment ministry said on October 11, 2021, that France will ban plastic packaging for nearly all fruit and vegetables from January 2022 to reduce plastic waste. According to estimates, 37% of fruits and vegetables are sold packaged, and it is anticipated that the move will stop more than one billion unnecessary plastic packaging items from being produced annually.
• Further, the growing concerns regarding the use of plastics across various end-user industries and among their customers are affecting the use of plastics. For instance, the cosmetic vendors in the country are keen on tackling the industry's plastic problem; hence, they are developing sustainable solutions for major players.
• Moreover, recently, France banned plastic packaging for most fruits and vegetables. By the end of June this year, plastic packing for cherry tomatoes, green beans, and peaches will be prohibited. Endives, asparagus, mushrooms, certain salads, and herbs will no longer be sold in plastic packaging by the end of next year. By June 2026, plastic will no longer be used to market raspberries, strawberries, and other delicate berries.
• Owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, Food & Beverage companies developed response actions and practical plans to mitigate their risk and prepare to deal with the coronavirus's effects. These plans included establishing an interdisciplinary crisis response team of personnel from all aspects of the business to identify, assess, and manage the risk presented. Further, the Russia-Ukraine war had an impact on the overall packaging ecosystem.

Key Market Trends

Increase in Adoption of Light-Weight Packaging may Drive the Market Growth

• Custom-Pak’s study on the ramifications of replacing plastic with alternatives (such as paper and paperboard, glass, steel, aluminum, textile, rubber, and cork) found that substitutes are, on average, 4.5 times heavier. The alternatives require substantially more material output to create the same type of packaging.
• Suntory is also investing in Carbios, a French startup that developed the technology that breaks down polymers into monomers, making them easy to reuse in new rigid plastics packaging, such as drinks bottles, in order to source more recycled plastics. It will also invest in supporting the implementation of national deposit-return schemes across its key European markets. It will also work to ensure that its plastic packaging is classed as 100% recyclable in the region.
• Moreover, of all the types of plastic, it is believed that using PET will help manufacture the lightest bottle and containers. According to PETRA, PET is a clear, strong, and lightweight plastic that is widely used for packaging food and beverages, especially convenience-sized soft drinks, juices, and water. Virtually all single-serving and 2-liter bottles of carbonated soft drinks and water sold in the United Kingdom are made from PET.​
• Plastic is lightweight and tough, making it much more suitable for transportation than glass. Shipping of plastic bottles and containers consumes less fuel than that of glass, expending less energy and leaving a smaller carbon footprint.
• Furthermore, the growing demand for recyclable, lightweight plastic packaging products contributes to the market's development. Several packaging companies are focusing on introducing light packaging products to gain a broad customer base. For instance, Greiner Packaging, a plastic packaging solution company, stated in February of last year that the company would participate in the CFIA in Rennes, France, from March 8-10. An innovative development from Greiner Packaging is revolutionizing the recyclability of cardboard-plastic combinations. Making sure that waste was sorted correctly used to be fully reliant on consumers playing their part. But now with K3® r100, the cardboard wrap and theplastic cup separate all by themselves on the way to the recycling facility. This makes the packaging solution ideal for recycling
• K3 combines a thin plastic cup with an easily removed exterior cardboard wrap. Because plastic protects, increases shelf life, and decreases food waste, it remains the best packaging material for food goods. In addition to being recyclable, the plastic used to produce K3 cups may also be made from recycled materials like rPET. The K3 cup can save up to 50% more plastic than a directly printed cup of the same size.
• Moreover, according to Eurostat, last year, the production volume index of the manufacture of plastic packing goods in France was recorded at 99.1, which increased by 1.6 units from the previous year. The significant recovery from the pandemic represents the increased demand for plastic packaging goods in the country, leading to the growing preference for lightweight packaging.

Personal Care is Expected to Witness Significant Growth Rates

• Socio-demographic changes in the region affect the demand for natural ingredients for cosmetics and related products. The region's aging population is increasing the demand for natural ingredients with active properties, such as anti-aging.
• Many skincare brands face increased competition, and the packaging suppliers provide brands with ways to differentiate designs that deliver convenience, ease of use, and advanced capabilities. A broad range of options is available for packaging skin care products to accommodate different product formats and formulations. For example, Nerd Skincare uses bottles, tubes, jars, and droppers in plastic and other materials.
• Some brands choose to reduce their single-use plastic consumption by using post-consumer recycled PET, following the suit of other industries. Aveda, for instance, is now using 100% post-consumer recycled PET in 85% of its skin care and hair styling PET bottles, jars, and bioplastic from sugarcane.
• Multiple government agencies cited that prices of plastic materials in Europe increased, with a significant contributor. With virgin plastics production capacity being in the current pipeline, this would place pressure on virgin resin prices downward and also on recycled resin prices.
• Also, the growing promotional activities of beauty product manufacturer in France through social media has boosted and increased purchasing through online websites. For example, the statistic presents a ranking of the top online stores in France in the personal care segment in the last year, sorted by annual net e-commerce sales. Last year, a significant market shareholding player, Sephora, a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, generated USD 245.4 million via selling products from the personal care segment in France. The online store Nocibe.fr was ranked second with a revenue of USD 193.1 million.
• With more than five million visits in August last year, Sephora.fr garnered the highest traffic to its website among selected French online stores for beauty and personal care products. In second place came Nocibe.fr, a German perfume and cosmetics company Douglas subsidiary, with 3.7 million website visits. The brands' product sales include a wide range of plastic packaging products, generating significant sales from plastic packaging products.

Competitive Landscape

The France Plastic Packaging Market is consolidated owing to a few players holding significant shares. As the demand for plastic packaging has been increasing significantly in the France region, the market is highly concentrated with the presence of major players like Amcor plc, Coveris Management GmbH, Berry Global Inc., Sealed Air Corporation, and Constantia Flexibles International GmbH, among others. The companies are involved in developing new products consistently, creating a barrier to new entrants.

In January 2023, the Berry factory in La Genete, France, received RecyClass certification to fulfill the demand for credible claims regarding recyclability and recycled content in packaging. The company is working to shift from a linear to a circular economy to meet the EU goal of having all plastic recyclable and reused by 2030. These measures to develop circularity make it more and more critical for manufacturers in all sectors to be open about recycling and using recycled material in their plastic packaging solutions and to prove it.

In February 2022, Coveris invested in its facilities in Montfaucon, France. Recently, the business bought an extruder to improve its equipment and increase the production of shrink and stretch hoods for industrial uses. The investment is meant to satisfy the rising demand for recyclable and recycled flexible packaging materials. The five-layer coextrusion technology extruder from Coveris is intended to boost the plant's capability for producing stretch and shrink hoods, including those made of recyclable materials.

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