The Impact of Covid 19 on the Industry

20-20 Vision

No one could have predicted what the year 2020 had in store for manufacturing industries worldwide.

The full impact may not be known for many years to come. However SPN has been looking at what is trending and how some of the world’s foremost research companies are looking at the current situation based upon what we have learnt in 2020 - and what the packaging industry can do to combat the negative effects of the global pandemic moving forward.

Packaging Gateway has published an important review of the EU’s ‘Covid 19 Recovery Plan’, excerpts of which are published here. In addition Technavio have looked into the integration of advanced technologies in relation to packaging and how the increase in the deployment of robotics will help to stimulate both growth and profits throughout the packaging industry.

The EU recovery plan

12 As part of its recovery plan announced recently by the EU leaders, it has introduced a levy on plastic waste starting January 2021. This will contribute towards the EU’s €750bn Covid-19 recovery package and its overall €1tn 2021 to 2027 budget.

The levy will see non-recycled plastic packaging waste calculated at a call rate of €0.80 per kilogram. The document announcing the plastic waste tax does not specify whether the income generated from the levy is categorised as a new tax.

The document from the General Secretariat of the Council to Delegations said: “As a first step, a new resource will be introduced and apply as of 1 January 2021 composed of a share of revenues from a national contribution calculated on the weight of non-recycled plastic packaging waste with a call rate of EUR 0.80 per kilogram with a mechanism to avoid excessively regressive impact on national contributes.”

Response from the German state secretary for the environment Jochen Flasbarth said: “The agreement contains clever new instruments that will help us to make Europe more environmentally friendly. The new plastic levy is a strong motivation for member states to massively expand their recycling systems. It will depend on a concrete design that it is as un-bureaucratic as possible and leads to less plastic waste.”

“ The agreement contains clever new instruments that will help us to make Europe more environmentally friendly ”

German federal environment minister Svenja Schulze said: “With this agreement, the EU is demonstrating its ability to act. For climate protection, the agreement provides a good basis on which we can build on in further legislation. There has never been so much climate protection in an EU budget. Europe will emerge from [Covid-19] stronger and more climatefriendly than when it came in.

“Response from experts in the industry included a posting by online environmental activist

8Planet Shine founder and sustainable business advisor Rachel McClelland told Packaging Gateway: “This is a positive move if it begins to shift the market but, above all, we urgently need to reduce plastic waste and move towards a global circular economy. I hope that the proposed tax drives behaviour change and encourages industries to analyse their supply chains and rethink their business models throughout Europe and in the UK.”

UK-based recycling expert Vanden Recycling MD David Wilson told Packaging Gateway: “This is an interesting twist on the usual approach of setting a recycling target with punishment for not meeting it. Instead, this is a penalty for the total amount left unrecycled. Questions, of course, remain at this early stage. This tax will be levied on nations and be payable to the EU. What impact that will actually have on recycling behaviours will depend on each nation’s implementation on clawing it back from their individual and business taxpayers.

“These are significant sums too. For example, if the UK was staying in the EU, and assuming it met this year’s recycling target, the cost of the tax on the remaining unrecycled content would be €368M. That’s significantly more than the likely total cost of plastics producer responsibility this year.

Robotics to the rescue

Business Wire’s London office has announced that Technavio has been monitoring the global food packaging robotics market and how it is poised to grow by USD 813.02 million during 2020-2024, thus progressing at a CAGR of 5% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest 11 trends and drivers, and the overall market environment, particularly in consideration of the Covid 19 pandemic. Technavio has suggested three forecast scenarios: optimistic, probable, and pessimistic, in relation to the impact of COVID-19. The company says that the market is concentrated, and the degree of concentration will accelerate during the forecast period. ABB Ltd., DENSO Corp., FANUC Corp., KUKA AG, Midea Group Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., OMRON Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH.

Some of the major market participants include, Teradyne Inc., and Yaskawa Electric Corp. Technavio says that to make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fastgrowing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

“ This latest study identifies the emergence of collaborative robots as one of the prime reasons driving the food packaging robotics market growth during the next few years. ”

The integration of advanced technologies has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. However, the high cost of deploying robotics might hamper market growth. The 2020-2024 Food Packaging Robotics Market is segmented by Tecnavio as follows: Application, Primary Packaging, Secondary Packaging, Geography, APAC Europe, North America, MEA and South America.

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Today, ‘Scope Technavio’ presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. The company’s Food Packaging Robotics Market report covers the following areas: Food Packaging Robotics Market size , Food Packaging Robotics Market trends , Food Packaging Robotics Market industry analysis. This latest study identifies the emergence of collaborative robots as one of the prime reasons driving the food packaging robotics market growth during the next few years.

Technavio also provides a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the food packaging robotics market, including vendors such as ABB Ltd., DENSO Corp., FANUC Corp., KUKA AG, Midea Group Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., OMRON Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH, Teradyne Inc., and Yaskawa Electric Corp.

Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, the research reports on the food packaging robotics market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Key Highlights include, CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024, detailed information on factors that will assist food packaging robotics market growth during the next five years. In addition, there is estimation of the food packaging robotics market size and its contribution to the parent market.

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior are also presented as well as the continuing growth of the food packaging robotics market. Analysis of the market’s competitive landscape and comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of food packaging robotics, are also recorded here.

For copies of the full Covid-related reports and further information go to:

www.packaginggateway.com and www.technavio.com