Middle East & Africa Paper Bags Market Size

MEA Paper Bags Market Analysis

The Middle East & Africa Paper Bags Market is expected to grow by registering a CAGR of 3.3% during the forecast period (2022-2027). High demand for paper bags for hygiene maintenance is anticipated in the post-Covid era. In the United Arab Emirates, the government's commitment to implementing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on a national scale is changing the course of packaging companies and encouraging them to adopt paper-based products, thereby driving the ancillary demand for kraft paper.

• The food and beverage industry has been registering steady growth in sales. There is high penetration of retail outlets of all formats - supermarkets, department stores, and convenience. Kenya, alongside Eastern Africa, can be identified as a maturing deployer in the studied market. The growing demand for high-quality food, like flour, maize, and grain, is recognized as one of the region's critical drivers of the studied market.
• Furthermore, a noticeable trend of increasing shelf visibility is gaining traction, facilitating the broad adoption of white print sack kraft paper. For instance, in July 2021, the Mondi Group partnered with Dune Packaging Limited, a Kenya-based packaging company, to increase its product portfolio with open-mouth paper bags for food products, leveraging Mondi's Advantage Kraft White Print Paper.
• Saudi Arabia is identified with the booming cement industry, which also happens to be one of the significant deployers of kraft bags. According to the NCB Capital, the asset management and investment banking leg of the National Commercial Bank, the cement sales in the region were anticipated to grow 4% year-on-year to 52.8 metric tonnes in 2021.
• In addition, NCB Capital has outlined the role of current housing programs, the Public Investment Fund's 2021 - 2025 strategy, and pick-up in infrastructure projects to create a surging demand for cement which indirectly creates an auxiliary demand for kraft paper in the country.
• The market challenge is that it is more expensive than plastic bags, and paper bags take up more storage space than plastic bags. Further, the Covid-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, is inactivated much faster on paper than on plastic: Three hours after being laid on paper, no virus can be detected. With such a factor, during the covid peak, the demand for paper bags increased in the MEA region.