SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Demand for corrugated shipping boxes is soaring, and so too are worries about a supply shortage in the packaging industry.
This issue was foreseen early on this year when market research company Freedonia Group predicted that global demand for corrugated shipping boxes was projected to rise 12 percent annually to 12.5 billion square meters in 2023 on the back of growing e-commerce demand.
The prolonged pandemic has caused a spike in demand for home delivery, and this trend has led to a shortage of corrugated cardboard and corrugated fiberboard.
Corrugated boxes are ideal for shipping because they’re made to cushion and protect the items within.
South Korea is somewhat unique in terms of this shortage, and many factors have added up to lead to the current situation.
Coupled with growing demand for delivery services amid the COVID-19 outbreak, a labor-friendly policy recently introduced — a new package box design aimed at easing the burden of delivery labor such as perforated boxes that require high intensity in the design — has necessitated more consumption of the paper material.
In addition, a fire at a paper mill in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province last month that accounts for around 7 percent of corrugated cardboard production in South Korea dealt a blow in the supply chain.
The Union for the Corrugated Box Packaging Industry, a trade group for the industry, expressed their concern by saying, “There is no vaccine for the shortage of corrugated boxes.”
Image Credit: Korea Corrugated Packaging Case Industry Association / Pixabay / photonews@koreabizwire.com
