Asia Pacific Contract Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

The Asia Pacific Contract Packaging Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% over the forecast period 2021-2026. With the outbreak of COVID-19, the contract packaging market has witnessed tremendous growth as the e-commerce market has taken a boom owing to lockdown and social distancing norms where the majority of the consumer are preferring online channels for shopping, and companies are outsourcing their packaging end to end or standalone services to meet the growing demand.

Key Highlights

• The customers in the market look for bonded zones for co-packaging in China. Some of the bonded zones include coastal zones such as Guandong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Futian. They have robust trade and port networks, no Customs Duty for products made out of China, No Export Licensing Issues, and No Supplier-Client Tracking. Some of the significant vendors operating in bonded sones are GPA Global, Asiapack, and Presence Asia Group.
• India is currently witnessing an increase in demand for contract packaging due to the sudden surge in the consumption of medications and increased production of Vaccines from various pharmaceutical industries. For instance, the Serum Institute of India (SII), one of the largest vaccine producers, manufactures AstraZeneca's Covishield and another formulation that US rival Novavax Inc developed. This increases opportunities for vendors in the market to introduce filling services to cater to the increased production of vaccines during the second wave of COVID-19.
• Australia is also witnessing robust growth for co-packaging services with significant developments and investments made by various pharmaceutical industries worldwide. For instance, PCI Pharma Services (PCI) acquired Australia-based Pharmaceutical Packaging Professionals (PPP), one of the leading packaging, storage, distribution, and trial manufacturing providers. This caters to the need for commercial co-packing services in the region.
• In the current scenario, manufacturers require a variable cost structure based on the volume. This volume might differ from a small quantity ranging from 100 liters quantity to a large one. However, packaging a minimum order, might result in loss for contract packagers, owing to the total costs associated with it, which could lead to manufacturers shying away from outsourcing their projects.

Key Market Trends

Pharmaceutical is Observing Significant Growth

• Co-packaging offers the flexibility to vendors in adapting to variations specific to a dynamic market, like Pharmaceuticals. The flexibility of production lines helps companies prevent repackaging work, reduce working capital, and lower finished goods inventories.
• In the Asia Pacific region, the Chinese Pharmaceutical market offers huge opportunities as more and more people gain access to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western medicine, which is produced in huge volumes. For the same reason, China has become the most important and the biggest market for the use of high-speed blister packaging.
• While API manufacturing is common in China, most of the country’s CMOs are limited to manufacturing liquid or solid dosage formulations. This is expected to increase the demand for co-packaging services on primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, such as blister packaging, plastic containers, labeling, among others, for major pharmaceutical companies in the country
• India is currently witnessing an increase in demand for contract packaging due to the sudden surge in the consumption of medications and increased production of Vaccines from various pharmaceutical industries. For instance, the Serum Institute of India (SII), one of the largest vaccine producers, manufactures AstraZeneca's Covishield and another formulation that US rival Novavax Inc developed. This increases opportunities for vendors in the market to introduce filling services to cater to the increased production of vaccines during the second wave of COVID-19.
• In addition, The country is also known for being one of the largest producers of Ayurvedic and Homeopathic medicine and skincare. For instance, in December 2020, HCP wellness, located in Ahmedabad, Gujrat, announced the expansion of manufacturing plants of oral care and skin care cosmetics. This increases the need for co-packaging services in the country. Furthermore, according to the Indian Department of Commerce, India's export value of ayurvedic and herbal products accounted for USD 428.08 million in 2020. This further boosts the need for co-packaging services in the country.

Secondary Packaging is One of the Factor Driving the Market

• The increasing need for physical and barrier protection, secondary containment, adherence to the regulations, and safety has resulted in increased adoption of secondary packaging. The common types of secondary packaging products include cardboard cartons, cardboard boxes and cardboard/plastic crates, small inflatable air pillows, bubble wrap, loose-fill, and labels.
• As the secondary packaging involves a level of the packaging within it, it is the secondary packaging that the consumer gets to see first making secondary packaging of prime importance. This is propelling the players in the industry to outsource the packaging that enables them to increase the attractiveness of the product and henceforth attracts customers, thus, boosting the market growth over the forecast period.
• Globally, secondary contract packaging plays a vital role for pharmaceutical companies who want to focus solely on the development of the drug. In such cases, the company employs packaging companies on a contract basis. This is likely to let them focus on the R&D of the product while the packaging duties of the product for transportation are outsourced.
• Secondary packs are often the first interaction with the brand that consumers have, whether it happens online, in-store, or any point in-between. Brands have associated themselves with a typical packaging type so that their products are identified on aisles.
• In the current packaging market scenario, outsourcing secondary packaging is becoming increasingly popular, owing to the rise of e-commerce and retailing. Thus, aiding manufactures to undertake large projects without the need for extra workforce or machinery while also enabling the company to strengthen its distribution channels.

Competitive Landscape

The Asia Pacific Contract Packaging market is moderately fragmented. The development of regional markets and increasing shares of local players in foreign direct investments are the major factors promoting the fragmented nature of the market. Some of the players operating in the market are Central Glass, MJS Packaging, Stamar Packaging, TricorBraun, Premier Packaging, Sharp Packaging Services are some of the players.

• August 2020 - The company acquired 25% of the stake in Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, which is a provider of specialized isolator-based sterile filling of vials, syringes, cartridges, and containers, as well as Lyophilization and terminal sterilization to small, medium, and virtual pharma and biotech companies with the help of UDG Healthcare. This helps the company cater to the growing demand from biotech clients.
• December 2020 -Shiprocket announced that it is planning to open 15 fulfillment centers and to launch the network in 4 major cities in 2021, to facilitate next-day delivery service for purchases made online.
• February 2021 - Nulogy made some new changes to its software platform by launching a ‘Just-In-Time Line Replenishment’ feature. This will allow users to minimize production downtime and maximize labor efficiencies when fulfilling customer orders.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
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