Covid 19: Creating opportunity for Packaged Food Industry in India

The coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent unlock phases have seen a major shift in the buying patterns from consumers. There has been seen a major rise in the demand for packaged food products like biscuits, bread, cakes and other snacking options as most consumers are working from home and these kinds of food items are meeting all their demands. Even the definition of essential food items has changed within a couple of months from basic food to snacking and munching items. As many restaurants are closed and people are still skeptical about ordering food from outside, these packaged food items have come as a rescue for preparing many dishes at home and sometimes improvising them too. Overall, the average purchase value per customer has gone up in this quarter after facing a dud in the first three quarters.

With the shift in our buying pattern, a major change in lifestyle has been witnessed towards hygienic living, be it through sanitization, personal hygiene practices, social distancing or buying hygiene conscious products. Seeing the change, government and regulatory bodies globally will also strengthen the requirements related to food processing and packaging in order to provide safe food to consumers.

Why packaged food is best when there is a health crisis?

In India, the majority of people still prefer unpacked food but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has changed this preference and slowly and steadily we have seen a shift towards packaged food in tier 3 cities too. The packaged food reaches the consumer in protected packs and with minimum handling. Packaged food also offers ease of identification, and reduces the risk of adulteration and wastage due to spillage. Even packaged foods meet all the food standards and are fortified. The future may also see a surge in the development of antimicrobial packaging for processed foods. Since social distancing will be a new social norm, in the near future people may avoid crowded places like restaurants and cafeterias and will prefer ‘Take away’ or packed food leading to an increase in packaging for cooked food.

Rise in e-commerce also increased the rise in packaged food

Since people are still observing social distancing measures, therefore most of the edible items are purchased online not only in metro cities but also in small cities. This will further see a rise in the packaging sector and will also boost the development of anti-counterfeit solutions in packaging. Another trend that is expected is the development of e-Packaging, in which minimum manhandling is involved and the product reaches the customer with minimum touch.

Packaging has evolved with eco-friendly flexible packaging

In the immediate future, packaging technology will be so flexible that people will buy packed rice and wheat, which will be much healthier, compared to lose ones. Today with barrier nano-coating technology in flexible packaging, the thickness has significantly reduced, resulting in a far lesser amount of plastics used. Not only that the flexible packaging is an advantage for easy e-commerce as products have become lighter, thereby cutting down the freight bills. Companies have been moving from rigid packagings such as containers, duplex cartons, or bottles to eco-friendly flexible packaging. Loose-selling products such as salt, atta, sugar, or other major staples are being moved to flexible packaging. In developed markets in the US and Europe, there is nothing that is being sold loose. So, there is a need for deeper penetration of packaging and higher adoption of packed products in our country.

Moreover, it has been seen that flexible packaging could be easily recycled. Technologies are enabling the monolayer and multilayer plastics such as a combination of polyester, metallised layers, polyethylene, and polypropylene to get recycled. The government is also coming up with favorable policies to promote recyclability and sustainability. There is an active public campaign in India towards sustainability. People are investing in recycling technologies as sustainability. Post recycling, the multi-layer plastics could be used to make roads, crates, dividers, furniture, etc. Government is in the process of framing policies on bio-degradable plastics. Montage has developed biodegradable packaging, which if littered and comes in contact with soil, attract more bacteria and convert the pack into biomass. It can also be recycled.