Still good for gravure but margins under pressure

• Decrease Increase

In the recent past, the leading board and flexible packaging companies in Pakistan have grown from year to year at double-digit rates. The economy’s growth and the addition of high quality printing and converting equipment in the last two or three years has created strong capacity in terms of quality and quantity. But the past year has been a bit rough with devaluation of the currency from Pakistani Rupees 60/ US$ down to a current rate of Pakistani Rupees 80/ US$. Interest rates have gone up from 11 to 18%. Thus the packaging industry’s growth according to some guesstimates has slowed from 13-14% in 2007 to somewhere in the 9 to 10% region in the past year. It is estimated that board-packaging growth is a bit lower than this and although gravure continues to lead growth, already thin margins are under pressure.
...cont´d

• Decrease Increase