According to the latest market research data released by Smithers, the global folding carton packaging market will reach US $136.7 billion in 2021. With the gradual recovery of the market from the COVID-19, the global demand of this market may reach US $172 billion in 2026.

According to the data in the future of folding cartonsto 2026, the demand for paperboard packaging has been increasing since 2010. Affected by the COVID-19, the growth rate of folding carton demand has slowed down, but the growth trend has not changed. The processing capacity of folding carton increased slightly from 48 million tons in 2019 to 48.3 million tons in 2020; It is expected to further increase to 61.58 million tons in 2026.

From 2019 to 2020, the output of paperboard increased by only 1.6%, and the growth rate of processing volume was less than 1%. According to Smithers’ latest price estimates, the total amount of paperboard sold (materials sold to processors) is expected to reach $46.28 billion in 2021.

With the threat of COVID-19 gradually weakened, the demand for folding carton packaging will increase by 2% from 2020 to 2021, and it is expected to recover to an average annual compound growth rate (CAGR) of 4.6% by 2026. Mainly due to the new demand for folding carton packaging in Asia, while the market share of North America and mature Europe will decline.

The COVID-19 has affected the end-users’ consumption of folding carton packaging to varying degrees. The sales volume of soft drinks decreased the most in the past year, while the demand for folding cartons for solid food packaging increased well in 2020. The medium-term consumption growth rate in the field of candy and solid food packaging is expected to be the highest.

In this case, various factors will help redefine the market demand of paperboard. For example, the focus on sustainable packaging, the continuous growth of e-commerce, the wide application of digital printing system, the renewal of folding carton design form, the increase of paperboard production capacity, etc.