A market in constant growth, that of Italian packaging, which in some segments has already filled the gap created by the 2008 crisis and in others is very close to the target. Total turnover has exceeded the target, that in 2017 reached a value of 32,564 million euros, up 28.3% compared to 25,372 million euros in 2007, while production figures are still 3.8% short ( today at 16,293,000 t) and 0.9% short of reaching the apparent consumption value of ten years ago.

These are some of the data released and commented on by Barbara Iascone at the economic conference organized every year by the Istituto Italiano Imballaggio. Compared to the previous year, in Italy the packaging sector saw an increase of 2.7%, with exports at + 5.3% (after the slowdown in 2016) and imports at + 7%.
Particularly interesting is the trend of individual materials, among which wood (+ 3.7%), plastics in general (+ 2.8%) and flexible converter packaging (+ 2.4%) stand out for their liveliness.

During the conference, which took place in Milan on June 13th, the morning speakers outlined the market trends and those of the afternoon dealt with “hot” topics such as the management of the supply of materials within the supply chain or the evolution of the pro industry 4.0 super amortization. The new president of the III was also on the rostrum: for the first time in its history the association is headed by a woman, Anna Paola Cavanna (Laminati Cavanna), dynamic and adroit, who announced new ideas and projects with verve and aplomb, to then leave the floor to the journalist of the “Sole” Marco lo Conte, traditional coordinator of the conference.

In the morning, Joachim Quoden (Expra general manager) intervened to update on the economic implications of the new European directive on packaging waste; Giorgio Quagliolo (president of Conai) who explained the circular economy in the packaging supply chain; Barbara Iascone for the Istituto Italiano Imballaggio to illustrate, with figures and analysis, the trends in the sector (her report can be read activating the link at the end of the article); Alessandra Benedini (Prometeia) who entered into the merits of the prospects of Italian industry in the international scenario; Riccardo Bovetti (Ernst & Young) to illustrate a very interesting and appreciated predictive model of trends in packaging raw material prices.

In the afternoon, after a much participated lunch break full of exchanges and contacts, following on from each other Francesco Casamassa (a lawyer at BonelliErede) analysed sensitive aspects of the international contracting of supplies for packaging; Edoardo Tedeschi (lawyer at Osborne Clarke) entered into the technology of Blockchain contract management; Carlo Benetti (Head of market research & business innovation GAM Italia) spoke about the financial markets after Quantitative Easing; Michele Brusaterra, chartered accountant and expert of Il sole-24 Ore, dealt with the theme of super-amortization offering a particularly interesting and fruitful practical slant.