The Smithers Institute, an international authoritative organization, recently released the latest research reports on the printing and packaging industry, predicting the development trend of the global printing and packaging market in the next five years. A comprehensive review of reports such as "The Future of Inkjet Printing by 2029", "The Future of Thermal Printing by 2029", and "The Future of Global Corrugated Packaging by 2029" found that from 2024 to 2029, the global printing and packaging market will be generally positive, and the inkjet printing, thermal printing, and corrugated packaging markets will all show strong growth momentum.

The report "The Future of Inkjet Printing by 2029" shows that the global inkjet printing market is expected to reach US$117.7 billion in 2024 and continue to grow at a strong momentum. From 2024 to 2029, the global inkjet printing market will have a compound annual growth rate of 6.6%. In 2029, the market size will reach US$162.1 billion.
The report predicts that from 2024 to 2029, the number of publications, packaged printed materials, etc. printed using inkjet will jump from 1.61 trillion A4 paper prints to 2.29 trillion A4 paper prints. In 2029, inkjet printing will occupy about 9.9% of the market share in the commercial printing field. More and more equipment manufacturers will continue to deepen their efforts in the field of inkjet printing.
Book printing, package printing and label printing will be the fastest growing areas in the inkjet printing market. The report shows that the introduction of new inkjet printing equipment helps to provide finished printed products, labels and packaging more efficiently, so that the share of inkjet printing in the printing and packaging market has steadily increased. The use of higher-performance equipment will double the speed of inkjet printing and print head resolution in the next five years. In the field of advertising printing, although inkjet printing technology has been gradually applied, especially in the field of signage, the market share in this field will decrease as more and more companies turn their advertising to online.
The past two years have been extremely challenging for the thermal printing market. From 2022 to 2023, the overall demand for thermal printing market is weak. Affected by multiple factors such as the development of e-commerce, supply chain disruptions, and declining consumer demand for goods and services, the use of thermal printing has declined in the short term, and many projects requiring new equipment have been postponed or cancelled.

Fortunately, the global thermal printing market will achieve a partial recovery in 2024 and resume growth in the following years. The report "The Future of Thermal Printing to 2029" shows that the global thermal printing market is expected to reach US$42.6 billion in 2024. From 2024 to 2029, the market compound annual growth rate will reach 3.1%. In 2029, the market size will reach US$49.6 billion.
But for now, the entire thermal printing market still faces a series of challenges. For example, although the development of thermal transfer technology has made the application of linerless labels more and more widespread, the price increase of suppliers has led to intensified market competition, and some consumables suppliers have received complaints of price dumping. At the same time, consumers' attention to green sustainability is also driving thermal printing in a more environmentally friendly direction. Direct thermal printing has been used in a variety of fields, but due to consumer concerns about the environmental friendliness of labels and possible health effects, companies have changed the chemicals used in thermal printing. As suppliers seek to improve the environmental and safety certification of their products, thermal printing technology continues to develop, and the elimination of silicone coating isolation materials has played an important role in improving the environmental performance of pressure-sensitive labels.

From the perspective of market segments, labels will become a key growth area in the thermal printing market. Thermal printing will increase its market share in these areas as more and more receipt labels are used in fast food restaurants and other online ordering businesses.
The report "The Future of Global Corrugated Packaging to 2029" shows that after the global containerboard market consumption fell by 7% and 8.5% in 2022 and 2023, respectively, the corrugated packaging market will show signs of recovery in 2024 and return to the growth track.
According to the report, in 2023, global containerboard production reached 183.4 million tons, a decrease of 4% compared with 2022. Among them, about 165 million tons of containerboard were consumed, a decrease of 7% from 2022, with a market size of US$224.4 billion. This result is related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Factors such as uncertainty in global logistics affect companies' demand for corrugated packaging, and price fluctuations lead to high inventories.
The report predicts that in 2024, the global corrugated packaging market is expected to rebound slightly, and the market size will grow to US$231.7 billion. Thereafter, global demand for corrugated packaging is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2.5%. In 2029, global corrugated packaging production is expected to reach 190 million tons, and the market size will reach US$277.6 billion at current prices.

In the next five years, the demand for corrugated paper packaging in various fields will be different. Since 2016, the proportion of corrugated packaging materials consumed in the food packaging and transportation fields has remained relatively stable. In 2023, the consumption of corrugated packaging materials in this field accounted for more than 46% of the total consumption, and it is expected to increase slightly to 47% by 2029. At the same time, the demand for corrugated packaging in the processed food sector will surge, while the demand for corrugated packaging in the fresh food and agricultural products sector will be relatively stable.

At the same time, the environmental performance of corrugated packaging will bring it more opportunities. The report shows that in the field of transport packaging, corrugated packaging materials are increasingly favored by brands and legislators due to their recyclability. This also drives processors to tend to produce more refined and higher-quality corrugated packaging and compete with folding carton packaging in the fields of cosmetics, electronics, etc. The EU's "Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation", which prohibits certain disposable plastics by 2030, will also bring opportunities for the development of corrugated packaging. The report also shows that if oil-proof coatings that do not contain perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances can be integrated and applied to existing corrugated board production lines, the potential of corrugated packaging in the food field will be further stimulated.