According to the analysis of China Packaging Machinery Manufacturing Industry In-depth Survey and Prospect Forecast Report from 2023-2028, China's packaging machinery was mainly imported from Germany, France, Italy, Japan and other world mechanical equipment manufacturing powers before the 1980s. With the rise of China's machinery industry and the overall environment of the structural adjustment of machinery and equipment, domestic packaging machinery enterprises have gradually broken through the monopoly competition pattern of international manufacturers, and the level gap between machinery manufacturing and foreign developed countries has been narrowing. The main technical indicators of products, such as working speed, positioning accuracy, operation stability, and automation degree, have reached or approached the international advanced level.

In recent years, the import of packaging machinery in China has achieved negative growth, and the leading position of the domestic market has been occupied by Chinese enterprises. Therefore, more and more paper packaging manufacturers have chosen domestic packaging equipment. Domestic printing and packaging enterprises have become the main trend and inevitable trend of the market to purchase domestic equipment.

On the one hand, the rapid economic growth of developing countries and regions in the world has led to a rapid increase in the market demand for packaging machinery; On the other hand, developed economies have a large number of complete sets of packaging machinery. With the further recovery of the economy, equipment upgrading and expansion of downstream manufacturers of machinery and equipment will still support the market demand for complete sets of packaging machinery. The global demand for packaging machinery will maintain a steady growth in the future, with broad overseas market space and huge export potential of Chinese enterprises. With the continuous improvement of the overall strength, more and more Chinese enterprises participate in the international market competition and seize the overseas market share. According to the data of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, in 2021, China's total export of packaging machinery was 3.638 billion US dollars, up 22.60% year on year. China's export of packaging machinery has entered a stage of stable growth again. In recent years, the economy of developing countries has developed rapidly, but they still need to import advanced equipment and technology from other countries to make up for their own manufacturing gap. Therefore, the overseas market, especially the market of developing countries, will become a huge market for China's packaging machinery export in a long period of time in the future. In addition, the labor costs of developed countries such as the United States are getting higher and higher, and the profits of some products imported will be higher than their own production, so the market prospect of packaging machinery exported to developed countries is relatively broad.

China's paper packaging machinery industry started late, and there is a considerable gap between China and developed countries in terms of research and development, design, production and technology at the early stage of development. In recent years, with the support of the national industrial policy, some enterprises have greatly improved their technological level through independent innovation and introduction of foreign advanced technologies and have continuously narrowed the gap with foreign advanced technologies. At present, the overall technical level of China's paper packaging machinery industry has been significantly improved, and the sales revenue has also maintained a rapid growth. According to the data of China Research Puhua Industry Research Institute, the compound growth rate of China's paper packaging machinery output from 2016 to 2021 is 7.42%.

Compared with metal, plastic, glass and wood packaging products, paper packaging products are less waste, safe and sanitary, easy to decompose and recycle, so they are recognized as "green packaging products". From the perspective of economy, the paper packaging used in the product accounts for a relatively low proportion of the total cost of the product, and the source of raw materials is also more extensive, which is convenient for logistics and transportation, and has good physical and mechanical properties. At present, paper packaging has become an indispensable packaging container for storage, transportation and consumption, and is one of the packaging forms widely used in modern commerce and trade. As green and economic packaging, paper packaging can well replace other packaging, and has a wide range of applications. The environmental and economic nature of paper packaging will also make its demand more vigorous, which is the development direction of the future packaging industry.

The packaging industry is an important part of China's national economy and one of the important landmark industries of the level of commodity economy development. As an important market segment of the packaging industry, the paper packaging industry plays an important role in the entire packaging industry. According to the statistics of the China Packaging Federation, in 2021, enterprises above designated size in the national paper packaging industry completed 319.203 billion yuan of main business income, an increase of 13.56% year on year.

With the increase of global consumption of consumer goods and population growth, the acceleration of urbanization and industrialization and the expansion of trade scope also promote the consumption of paper packaging in the Asia-Pacific region. On the other hand, China has a large population base, and its economy has maintained rapid growth. With the increase of residents' income, the demand for all kinds of fast moving consumer goods, electronics, home appliances and other industries has increased. The demand for exquisite packaging of such products has emerged at the historic moment. These demands will continue to promote the consumption of paper packaging, so the global paper packaging market scale will show a sustained and rapid development trend in the next few years.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Development of Packaging Machinery Industry in China

（1）   Advantages

①The downstream industry continues to develop rapidly, and the demand for packaging machinery market is broad. China's macro-economy has maintained rapid growth in the past ten years and has become the second largest economy in the world. According to the preliminary calculation of the National Bureau of Statistics, China's GDP will reach 114.367 trillion yuan in 2021, an increase of 8.1% over the previous year, becoming one of the centers promoting global economic growth and one of the largest consumer markets in the world. Benefiting from the healthy, stable and rapid development of the whole macro-economy and a number of industrial adjustment and revitalization development plans issued by the state, most of the industries in the national economy have achieved steady growth, including the rapid development of many downstream industries including tea, tobacco, wine, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, consumer electronics and other industries, which has played a huge role in driving the rapid growth of China's packaging machinery industry. With China's increasingly prominent position and role in the global economic structure and the sustained and stable growth of China's macro-economy, these downstream industries will continue to drive the packaging machinery industry to achieve greater development in business model, product structure, technology research and development, production and manufacturing, and will also provide a broader market space for the packaging machinery industry.

②The working-age population has declined, and labor costs have risen. With the decline of the number of working people in China, the labor cost is rising rapidly, the advantage of low-cost human resources is gradually weakening, and the labor cost of labor-intensive manufacturing enterprises is increasing. Equipment manufacturing has become the main direction of the transformation of labor-intensive traditional industries, the transformation of old and new drivers and supply-side reform. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of working-age population (16-59 years old) in China in 2015 was 910.69 million, and the number of working-age population (16-59 years old) in 2021 was 882.22 million, with a compound growth rate of - 0.53%. From 2015 to 2021, the proportion of working-age population (16-59 years old) in the total population in China showed a downward trend. From 2015 to 2021, the average wage of manufacturing employees (employees of enterprises above designated size) in China has risen continuously, with a compound growth rate of 8.50%. The labor market is characterized by difficult and expensive recruitment. In order to reduce the cost of employment and make up for the shortcomings caused by high labor costs, enterprises must accelerate the pace of production and manufacturing upgrading, and the high-end equipment manufacturing industry will usher in a period of rapid growth.

③Support for national and local industrial policies. Since 2010, the State Council, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Food and Packaging Machinery Industry Association and the China Packaging Federation have successively issued a number of policies to promote the development of the equipment manufacturing industry. The above series of national measures and policies will promote the healthy and rapid development of the industry for a long time.

（2）Disadvantages

Compared with the rapid development of downstream industries, China's packaging machinery industry still has some deficiencies, which restrict its further development:

①There is still a certain gap between brand influence and foreign well-known manufacturers. Packaging machinery is the key equipment for carton production. Therefore, the brand awareness, reputation and industry reputation of packaging machinery have become important criteria for downstream customers to select suppliers. Especially when packaging quality is increasingly concerned by people, brand influence often becomes one of the key indicators for well-known packaging enterprises to consider when selecting packaging machinery suppliers.

The cultivation of brand influence takes a long time, and the main market of high-end packaging machinery products in China has been occupied by foreign manufacturers for a long time. At present, many domestic enterprises are still in the stage of imitating foreign products, or only able to produce some parts and general models. There are few domestic enterprises that can independently develop high-end products with first-class technology, excellent management and well-known brands. The issuer has always adhered to independent research and development, continuously improved product quality, and established a good brand influence among downstream customers. However, in the market competition, there is still a certain gap compared with internationally well-known brand manufacturers.

②The domestic packaging machinery industry is relatively short of high-end technical talents. The packaging machinery is a technology-intensive industry with the centralized application of advanced technologies such as computer numerical control, electrical control, and precision manufacturing of mechanical components. In the middle and high-end market of packaging machinery, due to the high market access barriers required by the downstream industry in terms of product technology level, quality performance and comprehensive service ability, China's training and transportation of packaging machinery-related professional talents cannot meet the needs of the industry development.