ICAP CRIF: The domestic plastic packaging market is under pressure

In 2023, the Greek plastic market (with the exception of one use) showed a drop of about 5% compared to the previous year, as shown by a sectoral study of ICAP CRIF. Ioanna Stratoudaki, Advisor to the Directorate for Economic and Sectoral Studies of ICAP CRIF in charge of this study, points out that increased inflationary pressures adversely affected several branches-clients of plastic packaging, leading to reduced demand for plastics. For the distribution of the market by product category, over time the largest share is dissipated by the ‘Friends-Films’ category with a percentage of 30%, followed by the categories ‘Sacks, Bags, Bags’ and ‘Friends, Bottles’, detaching a share of about 21% of each for 2023. The study carried out a financial analysis of plastic packaging operations for a representative sample of 73 companies for the two years 2021-2022. The plastic packaging industry is inextricably linked to the course of various customer sectors. In particular, a significant part of the market for plastic packaging is absorbed by the food and drink industry, while a considerable volume of plastic packaging items is used for agricultural products and other consumer goods. It is also noted that polyethylene, the main raw material for the production of plastic packaging goods, is an oil derivative and therefore has exposure to price changes. Thus, in 2023 the average sales prices of plastics appeared to have decreased, as a result of lower prices of raw materials. Stamina Panteliou, Director of Economic & Sectoral Studies of ICAP CRIF reports that a large number of production companies are active in the plastic packaging sector, which deal with one or more product categories. Nevertheless, import penetration into the market under consideration has increased over the years, and it was formed to around 27% in 2023. Most of the imported quantities come from Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, China and Turkey. Similarly, there has been a significant increase in the quantities of plastic packaging in recent years, resulting from the general expansion of the volume of Greek exports. Exports mainly concern flexible plastic packaging, which have a relatively small weight and therefore lower transport costs. The breakdown of the group balance sheet shows the following: Total sales of 73 companies increased by 17.3% in 2022 compared to 2021. Similarly, gross profits increased by 16.1% in the same period. I was raised, although at a lower rate, were EBITDA gains (9.2%) that were set at 141.1m euros in 2022.