Packaging industry takes handsome strides in Q4; expects FY22 growth at 8-10%

The one sector that has done exceptionally well ever since COVID-19 emerge is the packing industry because now there is more emphasis on safety, sanitation and hygiene. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Pankaj Poddar, CEO of Cosmo Films and Rajesh Bhatia, group president-finance and accounts & CFO of Uflex discussed at length whether the demand has gone up and how is the situation on the ground.

Poddar said that packaging demand has risen in a similar manner as last year. “Flexible packaging demand has gone up. Labelling demand because of sanitisers and drinks has done up, tape demand has gone up because there is more online ordering that consumers are doing. Only one segment which has been impacted is textile because retail is not open in many cities, but overall the demand is higher than the normal demand.”

Meanwhile, talking about raw material prices, Bhatia said, “The BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethene terephthalate is a polyester film) segment saw about 60 percent increase in raw material prices is languishing a bit and is finding it difficult to pass on the increased cost of the raw material prices. So there the margins are a bit affected but BoPP (biaxially oriented polypropylene films) side the margins are better compared to BoPET.”