Market Trends of Kenya Flexible Packaging Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Kenya Flexible Packaging Market according to our research experts:
Food and Beverage Sectors to Register Strong Growth
- The African region accounts for a significant and growing portion of worldwide food and feed imports. Despite the violence and political uncertainty hanging over parts of the region, the growing populations and rising incomes drive higher demand for primary food and feed grains, soybeans, cotton, and meats. However, in Kenya, growing demand and climate-constrained production potential have forced the region to rely increasingly on food imports, raising its trade profile.
- With rising urbanization, increased income, and the government's push for diversification in manufacturing and services, Kenya is increasingly importing more agricultural products and food. Food processing is one of the government's focused development and business initiatives, supporting the industry's steady growth in the last several years. The growth of the food processing sector offers opportunities for flexible packaging manufacturers.
- Kenya is a progressing middle-income nation that acts as the financial, economic, and transport hub of East Africa. According to the USDA's (United States Department of Agriculture) data in 2022, Kenya's population demographic has a median age of 20 years, with 33.8% of the population between the ages of 25 and 54 years. Due to this, the country's demand for plastic packaging source materials has been rising, and the industry has also become competitive.
- Organizations in the country are focused on innovating new flexible packaging solutions as part of their business expansion. For instance, Silafrica, one of the leading plastics packaging companies in Kenya and East Africa, offers sustainable packaging solutions to companies and SMEs in the food and beverage industry, as well as the agricultural sector, among others, to enable them to curb wastage during storage and transit, as well as allow for longer shelf life.
- In Kenya, the staple foods market has grown significantly in the last few years. The growth in the market was driven by the retail volume and value sales of staple foods owing to more innovative products being introduced. For instance, to meet consumers' need for more affordable staple foods, producers focused on producing smaller pack sizes to cater to consumers in the lower income groups.
Understand The Key Trends Shaping This Market
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Bags and Pouches are Witnessing High Demand
- Kenya is significantly dependent on imports of flexible packaging to fulfill the domestic packaging demand. Kenya imports both finished products as well as packaging materials. Domestic converters use packaging materials such as plastic and more to manufacture flexible packaging products such as bags, pouches, and more locally.
- Kraft paper is used in paper bags/sacks for industrial materials such as chemicals and cement, multiwall sacks, flour and food bags at grocery stores, and paper bags. In February 2021, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) approved new standards to guide businesses that sell packaged and wrapped products. These standards are expected to benefit manufacturers of food products, fast food outlets, and paper converters that use paper bags.
- Pouches are used primarily in food and beverages end-user industries in Kenya. Several initiatives undertaken by the government are also helping pouch packaging in the country. Tea is a very important sector in the country. The Kenyan government has been looking to establish value addition industries as part of its Big Four agenda.
- Several pouch packaging market players serve the Kenyan market. For instance, Flexipac is one of Kenya's leading flexible packaging companies that produce various innovative packaging solutions for domestic and international companies, including stand-up pouches. Flexipac offers complete packaging solutions and customized printed packaging for tea, oils, sugar, rice, confectionery, agro-vet, and related products.
- Growing innovation has seen the emergence of papers and aluminum foils, replacing the current large-scale use of plastic for manufacturing pouches. Furthermore, Kenya is considerably increasing local production and investments from Asian and European countries.
