Machinery IndustryPackaging machines > Production and sales packaging machines

Packaging machines and machinery industry 2008 - 2022

Packaging machines only a growth sector to a limited extent in machinery industry

Do the packaging machines show up as growth sector compared to machinery industry? Or rather do they lag behind to the machinery industry? Not really anything but a bit of everything – the result is differentiated and revealing.

Update June 14th, 2023 - This report compares production and sales of packaging machines with that of machinery industry during fourteen years from the pre-crisis year 2008 to the year 2022.


The differences will show up most clearly related to a common starting point. For this purpose we select the pre-crisis year 2008 setting the indices of production and sales turnover for that year at 100.

Production of packaging machinery a growth sector compared to machinery industry

Compared to mechanical engineering, is the packaging machinery sector a growth sector when it comes to comparing quantities and production?


The answer shows us the following diagram. After fourteen years, the production index of packaging machinery is 115.3 in 2022, with a growth rate of 1.0% per year. On the other hand, the production index of machinery industry is at 91.7 in 2022, with a contraction of -0.3% per year.


In terms of production, packaging machinery is one of the growth sectors with above-average production growth compared with machinery industry.

Comparison production packaging machines with machinery industry from 2008 to 2022.

The character of packaging machinery as a growth sector is especially evident from 2018 to 2022.


In the preceding phase from the overcoming of the crisis in 2011 to the top of production in 2018, the production of packaging machines grows by 1.6% per year. The comparative figure for the machinery industry is 1.0% growth per year.


In the period from 2018 to 2022, the production of packaging machinery stagnates at minus 0.3% per year. The production of the machinery industry, however, decreases by 2.1% per year during this period.


Production of packaging machinery a growth industry?

  • Yes, due to slightly above-average growth after the crisis was overcome in 2011 to 2018 and   
  • yes, due to only slight, below-average contraction in production from 2018 to 2022.

Packaging machinery sales overall only slightly above average compared with machinery industry

A comparison of sales of packaging machinery and machinery industry for the period from 2008 to 2022 reveals only slight differences in favor of packaging machinery.


Sales of packaging machines grow by 1.4% per year and those of the machinery industry as a whole by 1.2% per year in the fourteen years from 2008 to 2022.

Sales packaging machines compared to machinery industry from 2008 to 2022.

As with production, the years 2019 to 2022 make all the difference. This time, however, to the detriment of the packaging machines. Their sales stagnate at minus 0.2% per year over this period. Machinery sales, however, grow by 2.0% per year over the three years from 2019 to 2022.


In terms of sales, packaging machinery is therefore only showing slightly above-average development compared with machinery industry.


The reason for production and sales of packaging machines moving at different rates is unlocked by the shift of the export markets a separate report analyzes.