Packaging Goes Up

The reduction of foreign and the increase of domestic production are major tendencies in the packaging market. Suppliers choose local producers since the quality of foreign and domestic packaging being the same, prices for foreign products are higher due to the customs fees and transportation costs. Furthermore, the time factor plays a special role; Russian companies deliver ordered production faster.

In the words of Maria Prutova, the regional representative of ‘Firma Peterbox’ (an affiliation of the Finnish ‘METSA-SERLA’), the Russian and foreign packaging are equal in quality. Imported production requires significant expenses for customs dues and temporary loses borne by clients. “Thus, having no other choice, international companies open their productions in Russia, in order not to lose the market,” she said.

The Russian market, according to ‘SoyuzUpak’ Association, makes 4.5 billion packaging of all kinds, with 39% of the share held by cardboard packaging. The last figure illustrates individual and transport packaging. In most cases, individual packaging is made of chrome-substitute materials, while transport packaging is made of corrugated cardboard. Market mostly demands for individual packaging.

The closed joint-stock company ‘PetroBoard Trading’, a subdivision of ‘Ilim Pulp Enterprise’, and the closed joint-stock company ‘Kappa Sankt-Peterburg’ are the leading makers of transport packaging in the North-West. The closed joint-stock company ‘PetroBoard Trading’, ‘Poligraphoformleniye-Offset’ PLC and the closed joint-stock company ‘Sankt-Peterburgskaya Obrazcovaya Tipografiya’ (St. Petersburg Model Printing-house) are producers of individual packaging.