— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

The economic situation for manufacturers of plastic packaging and films in Germany remains tense. However, the mood regarding sales and export expectations is brightening slightly. According to the latest economic survey by German plastics packaging industry association IK (Bad Homburg; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de) for Q1 2025, one in five (19.6%) of the 92 member companies surveyed anticipate rising sales. This is an increase of 10 percentage points compared with the fourth quarter of 2024. Around 27% expect sales to continue to fall until and during March 2025, compared with 39.4% in the previous quarter.

With regard to sales prices, the number of those who expect prices to rise following the first talks of the year has risen from 16.3% (Q4 2024) to 22.8%. Around half of the companies do not expect significant changes here.

The earnings situation, however, remains strained – 50% of the companies expect earnings to decrease (previous quarter: 53.8%). Only six (in absolute numbers!) of the companies surveyed currently expect an improvement (previous quarter: two companies). In contrast, 43.5% (previous quarter: 44.2%) regard the earnings situation as stable. 

Related: German packaging and film makers expect higher sales

By contrast, the export business, which is traditionally regarded as an early indicator of economic trends, is developing encouragingly. While 31.7% of companies still expected the export situation to deteriorate in the fourth quarter, this picture had changed by the start of 2025. The proportion of pessimistic assessments has fallen to 20%. As IK reports, this is the lowest figure seen in over a year.

According to IK business consultant Laura Müller, the increasing stabilisation in the export business is striking – with an export ratio of 47% in the first three quarters of 2024, the industry is one of the 10 strongest exporting manufacturing sectors in Germany. There are now signs of further stabilisation at this already high level – the proportion of companies expecting stable export business has risen to 70% (previous quarter: 62.4%).

There are also positive signs on the labour market. The proportion of companies planning to hire new staff has improved by 2.2 percentage points to 10.9% – this is the highest figure since the third quarter of 2022 (12%). At the same time, the proportion of companies that expect to reduce their workforce has fallen.

Nevertheless, the generally weak economic situation is also reflected in the circumstances of film and plastic packaging manufacturers. For example, 70% of the companies surveyed rate the current overall situation as poor, which represents a significant increase on the 54.8% from the previous quarter.

“Our figures show that generalised crisis scenarios do not do justice to a complex economic reality,” said Müller, commenting on the results of the latest IK survey. “The overall economic situation remains challenging. Nevertheless, our industry is showing initial stabilising and positive trends.”

— Translated by Elspeth Lenhard