Domestic packaging firms under threat as foreign manufacturers arrive

The demand is expected to be 5.396 million tons by 2020, up by 38%, compared to global demand in the 2015-2020 period, an increase of 13%.

Tetra Pak has started construction of a high-technology packaging factory in Binh Duong province. In the first stage of operation, the factory will have the capacity of 12 billion products a year.

In 2016, Tetra Pak provided 7.5 billion products to domestic food manufacturers.

Vietnam is one of Tetra Pak’s 10 fastest growing markets thanks to the increasingly high demand for canned dairy and beverage products. 

The consumption of dairy products is expected to double to 28 liters per head per annum by 2020, while the growth rate of 17.5% is projected for the fruit and fruit juice market the next year.

Tetra Pak’s Chris Kenneslly commented this is the reason for more packaging factories to develop in the time to come.

Nguyen Ngoc Sang, chair of the Vietnam Packaging Association (Vinpas), said that packaging is considered one of the fastest-growing business fields in both scale and number of enterprises.

There are about 2,000 enterprises in the printing & packaging sector, while plastic packaging is the fastest growing segment with growth rate of 15%.

Sang commented that many Vietnamese enterprises are facing a risk of being swallowed by foreign conglomerates. Some enterprises have been taken over by Japanese, while others have sold an 80% stake to Thais or South Koreans.

Thai SCG Group has acquired an 80% stake of Batico in a deal worth US$44 million. It also owns Kraft Vina factory belonging to Vina Kraft Paper.

The Republic of Korea's Dongwwon Systems Corporation has spent US$21.86 million to take over Minh Viet Packaging and spent US$39 million to acquire a 47% stake of Tan Tien Plastic Packaging.

Prior to that, MeiwaPax Group bought Saigon Trapaco at US$15.38 million, Oji Holding bought United Packaging and Sagasiki Vietnam bought Goldsun.

The Vietnamese packaging market is dominated by foreign manufacturers, namely Tetra Pak (Sweden), Combibloc (Germany) and SCG (Thailand). Ninety percent of the plastic packaging industry is controlled by foreign manufacturers.

Experts say the US consumes 60% of Vietnam’s plastic packaging products and Japan 15%. Japan may increase imports from Vietnam to offset decreases in imports from China.

However, analysts warned that Vietnamese manufacturers may not receive benefits as they have been relying by 70-80% on imported materials. 

Meanwhile, the government has raised the import tariff on PP particles to 3%, thus leading to a production cost increase.