Northern China Folding Carton Industry Set to Realize Full Potential

As China becomes more open, and the commercial vibrancy of its Northern region increases, many multinationals are setting up headquarters or R&D centers in Beijing. In the 1980s, the Pearl River Delta stimulated the first wave of growth in the country’s economy. In the 1990s, it was the Yangtze River Delta with the second wave. Today, the Bohai Economic Rim, with Beijing at its center, is ushering in the third wave of growth for China’s economy. The Bohai Economic Rim includes the city of Tianjin, as well as the provinces of Hebei, Liaoning and Shandong. Boasting advanced industries and densely populated cities, the region attracts high levels of foreign investment. Currently, more than 80 multinationals have set up R&D institutions in China, over 40% of them in Beijing. There are over 10,000 foreign-invested enterprises in Tianjin. Of these, 200+ are Fortune 500 companies. Dalian, with nearly 8,000 foreign-invested enterprises, is one of the most foreign capital-intensive regions in Northeast China. As the national economic center moves northwards, the folding carton packaging industry chain is migrating in the same direction. This is why the packaging and printing industry in the Bohai Economic Rim has such tremendous development potential. In the fast-growing electronics manufacturing sector, for example, industry leaders like Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic, Microsoft and Fujitsu already have R&D centers in Beijing. Many international joint ventures like Motorola and Samsung, already have a presence in the Tianjin Economic Development Area, a large production scale and plans for future expansion. Electronic component manufacturing giant Foxconn is undergoing strategic transfer towards Hebei and Shandong. In the foreseeable future, the northern market will become a popular investment destination. Although the Pearl River Delta region has the most developed printing and packaging industry in China, this area is virtually saturated so there is a pressing need to expand the market outward. Every year, demand for packaging and printing, especially high-end printing, in North China, grows. These orders are predominantly filled in South China as the region has a better-developed printing manufacturing industry. Following the completion of the 11th Five-Year Plan, the northern printing and packaging industry is now in a new development phase. With Beijing at its center, the surrounding Bohai Rim Economic Region’s printing output value accounts for 19.68% of the national output value. This represents a great gain on the Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas. According to the annual Beijing area printing industry statistics from 2009, the 1,610 independent legal printing companies and 34 non-independent legal printing companies in Beijing have assets worth a combined total of RMB 295.95 billion and business revenue of RMB 19.65 billion. Of these, 38 companies have an annual output value exceeding RMB 100 million. A further 260 companies have a value of over RMB 10 million. With the establishment of powerful printing and packaging companies in northern China, Beijing Daxing Economic Zone has also greatly benefitted from the region’s development. In 2009, the sales value of Daxing’s printing industry was RMB 7.88 billion, approximately 40% of the entire city’s sales, and representing the most developed printing area in Beijing. A large number of food and beverage packaging enterprises are concentrated in the Shunyi and Huairou districts of North Beijing. That year, the combined value of these two districts’ printing sales was RMB 3.2 billion. As Beijing continues its rapid development, the medicine, food, tourism, electronics and chemical industries will provide the folding carton trade with much stimulus and incentive for growth.