The Summit Theme - Packaging: The Asian Environment

Asia’s packaging industry thunders ahead
In 2006, the Global Packaging Industry had an estimated production output value of US$513.02. As the largest packaging-producing region, Asia’s production value took 31% market share at US$156.54 billion.

As a region Asia has been experiencing growth of 12-14.5% annually since 2001 and this will continue to grow, driven by population growth. Home to more than 2.5 billion people, the developing economies of Asia are under great pressure to feed its growing populations. This means the region will need even more packaging than it already uses.

The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has resulted in an annual 11.6% increase in trade among ASEAN countries and an influx of multinational corporations shifting their production bases here.

Modern retail is making headway in Asia. Although it only constitutes just 5% of all trade here, this figure is set to increase. One retailer in India alone is investing US$200 billion between now and 2010 to open more than 35,000 supermarkets.

With more than 38% of all food produced in Asia wasted between farmer and consumer though - China estimates food loses due to ‘inappropriate’ packaging at US$3.2 billion while India loses 48% of all food produced - how realistic are sustainable goals?

Sustaining Asia

With consumers increasingly demanding more attention to environmental issues, the Packaging Industry recognizes that it is no longer enough to uphold the 3 ‘P’s of packaging: Protect, Preserve and Promote the product. Now, the 3 ‘R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle packaging, are just as important.

Corporate social responsibility, sustainable practices and compliance issues are starting to make demands on Asia, one of the world’s largest manufacturing bases. Product safety and security matters are also becoming more important. Is Asia ready for this paradigm shift?

Developing appropriate yet sustainable packaging is crucial to Asia’s booming market.

Practical sustainable corporate practices, what are the sustainable packaging materials, processes, technologies available, and how and where they are deployed - these issues are of primary significance, and form the central theme of the Asian Packaging Summit – Packaging: Sustaining the Asian Environment.