Qatar Printing and Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Qatar printing and packaging market is expected to reach a CAGR of 4.29% during the forecast period (2020 - 2025). The Packaging market is growing in the country due to continuous growth in its end-use sectors such as food, retail, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, etc. Moreover, technological proliferation and rising applications across multiple end-use segments are anticipated to encourage the demand for printing prints on materials such as business forms, financial printing, books & magazines​, and labels & packaging​.

Key Highlights

• Processed food such as chilled processed meat, frozen processed meat, etc. further drives the country's market due to people's busy lifestyles over the years. Moreover, the growing popularity of processed meat-based food products among the younger generation, and the rising demand for organic food products, among others, are the major factors driving the food packaging market in the country. Furthermore, the need for industrial packaging in the country is likely to remain robust, owing to the improving situation of international trade.
• Moreover, with the increasing demand for packaging in the country, several players seek the opportunity to invest in the country to capture the market share. For instance, the Sarten group, a Turkish packaging company, is set to expand its operations in Qatar, including setting up a factory to provide packaging solutions to Qatar's rapidly growing manufacturing sector, especially the fast-moving consumer goods producers.
• The growth of the print label market in the country is augmented by the rapid rise of digital print technology, which has made the label printing market more sophisticated and has increased the adoption of digital print labels. Their flexibility and versatility, along with the high graphics standards, are the major growth features.
• However, the emergence of the COVID-19 outbreak across the globe is significantly impacting the printing industry. The first impact can be considered on the commercial printing companies supplying to trade fairs/exhibitions or meetings and events and a large amount of which got canceled at the last moment in the country. Moreover, packaging manufacturers are facing supply chain disruption along with decreasing manufacturing at the sites due to lockdown.

Key Market Trends

Digital Printing to Drive the Market Growth

• The advanced technology digital printing involves the use of mild solvents and less-harmful chemicals than those used in conventional printing technologies, such as offset printing and reliable ink printing. Thus, with the increasing focus on green printing and cost-effective production, the demand for digital printing solutions is growing in various end-user verticals.
• Inkjet printing, a process that has contributed to the development of digital printing, entails spraying tiny droplets of liquid ink onto designate substrates, like paper. This process enables photo-quality equivalent images. Inkjet printing offers an economical alternative to other print processes, as it provides full variability and low set-up costs, enabling economic printing of runs down to single copies. The convergence in digital printing enables superiority in terms of print personalization for large-volume orders as well. However, the cost factor remains a big hurdle.​
• The rise in e-commerce and social media has led the modern shopper to expect a wide range of consumer packaged goods and instant delivery in the country. This gives rise to digital printing as it allows companies to handle a batch of short-run work cost-effectively. The deployment of a digital printing press to the production floor can also free up flexo machine time to focus on producing medium- to large-run jobs.
• Moreover, the technological proliferation of digital printing has led to vendors like Xerox announcing digital printing innovation as one of the areas of focus. In partnership with Darwish Trading Company, its master distributor in Qatar, Xerox has launched the Xerox Iridesse production press for customers in Qatar. The Xerox Iridesse Production Press is a high-speed, six-station color press that combines four-color printing with up to two specialty dry inks in one printing pass. The press produces special effects and digital enhancements cost-effectively and in a simplified workflow environment.

Glass Packaging to Drive the Market Growth

• Glass packaging is expected to drive the market growth as they are used in the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage industry and have increasing demand from the healthcare industry. Moreover, glass packaging is 100% recyclable, making it a desirable packaging option from the environmental point of view. 6 tons of recycled glass directly save 6 tons of resources and reduce the emission of CO2 by 1 ton.
• The Middle East is experiencing fast growth in the glass bottles and containers marked with the establishment of a number of plants, the entry of new players, and the expansion of existing players' production capacity. Moreover, various recycling plants are being set up across the GCC region to meet the growing demand for glass. According to experts, the demand for glass within GCC has been growing at 5% each year for the last few years.
• Qatar's government has been proactively promoting the establishment of glass production facilities in the country in the Gulf region. The Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company announced that it was planning to invest 50% capital in setting up of the Gulf Glass Factory. This factory is expected to be used to produce glass packaging for mineral water, soft drinks, juices, dairy products, and packaged foods (pickles, oils, sauces, jams, honey, etc.). The food industry is gaining particular importance from Qatar's government and is expected to be one of the most critical components of the national GDP in the future.

Competitive Landscape

The Qatar printing and packaging market is fragmented due to several players in the market. Players in the market are innovating their products and are adopting strategic collaboration to sustain in the competitive market. There is market entry of new players also.

• April 2020 - Qatar First Investment Bank (QFIB) signed an agreement to acquire a 71.3 % interest in Emirates National Factory for Plastic Industries L.L.C. (ENPI), a full-service flexible packaging manufacturer, largely through a capital injection.
• December 2019 - Leading Turkish packaging company Sarten group announced to expand its operations in Qatar, which will include setting up a factory to provide packaging solutions to Qatar’s rapidly expanding manufacturing sector, especially the FMCG producers.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support