Globally, countries are experiencing a drastic economic decline in low and middle-income countries due to loss of income, the shutdown of businesses, human and goods movement restrictions imposed by governments, de-globalization, and breakdown of food markets to both demand shocks and supply constraints, and strict lockdowns imposed by the governments. COVID-19 has a variable impact in different countries depending on their cultural norms, mitigation efforts, and health infrastructure, and each country is working its way out to fight against the pandemic. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all industries, including the global aluminum foil market. The global aluminum foil market is subjected to a positive and negative impact due to the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst the lockdown, the market has witnessed moderate volume growth and earnings due to the rising use of aluminum foil in the food and beverage industry, pharmaceutical industry. The COVID-19 crisis is providing significant growth opportunities for the aluminum foil packaging market. However, this disrupted supply chain for aluminum foil packaging materials due to the shutdown of boundaries and strict lockdowns imposed by the government to control the spread of the virus is negatively impacting the market.
AFTERMATH OF COVID-19 AND GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES TO BOOST THE GLOBAL aluminum foil market
The pandemic of COVID-19 created a demand for aluminum foil due to growing e-commerce platforms and the increasing number of online food delivery aggregators. During the time of COVID-19, the aluminum foil makers bought more material than they needed to survive. Moreover, the unlocking of the situation and opening boundaries by various nations have regulated the supply of raw materials. Various governments are taking initiatives to regulate the supply of raw materials for food, beverages, and pharmaceutical products. Additionally, various governments are liberalizing the regulation in the chemical industry to smoothen and regulate the raw material supply for the industry. Therefore, in the post-COVID period, the demand for aluminum foil is expected to increase moderately due to its increasing food and beverage industry.
STRATEGIC DECISIONS FOR MANUFACTURERS AFTER COVID-19 TO GAIN COMPETITIVE MARKET SHARE
The global aluminum foil market is gaining popularity across various industrial sectors all over the globe. Since the lockdown due to COVID-19, the aluminum foil manufacturers are required to follow a series of mandates and procedures to battle the crisis and keep a healthy workspace environment. To combat the current situation and gain a competitive market share, the manufacturers are offering attractive packages. Key market manufacturers adopt various marketing strategies, such as product innovation, regional expansion, and new product development, to sustain the competitive market and meet the changing consumer trends. Adopting such strategic marketing policies by various competitors will help them gain competitive market share in the post-COVID-19 era.
For instance,
- In August 2020, Vikas Multicorp had entered the food protection and personal hygiene segment and invested worth ₹100 crores for the next couple of years. Also, the company has acquired various national trademarks such as Homefoil, Cleanwrap, Mistique, and Chapati Wrap. The new product portfolio of Vikas Multicorp will help it cater to the growing demand for the aluminum foil market in India on account of urbanization, growth in food home delivery, and rising concerns on hygiene, especially after COVID-19
- In October 2019, Novelis Inc. invested USD 36 million in Greensboro, Ga. facility to enhance the recycling capacity. This investment includes modern machinery for aluminum scrap recycling. This project is likely to start by the end of 2021
Impact on Price
The COVID-19 has impacted the global economy growth terribly. Many organizations remained shut while others scaled down their operations or put their expansion plans on hold as they survived the unpredictable crisis. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in nationwide lockdowns, and various stringent regulations on border closing were imposed by the government of nations across the globe, which resulted in the spike in the prices of aluminum foil. Import and export of raw materials were hampered due to the closing of the border of various nations. This increased the prices in countries dependent on the imports of aluminum foil. At the same time, the price in the major aluminum foil exporters countries had fallen owing to the larger production than the demand. However, the ease of lockdown and various initiatives by the government to export and import aluminum foil resulted in the subsequent price drop owing to its availability. The price impact on the aluminum foil market was relatively dependent on specific commodities.
Impact on Demand
The COVID-19 has resulted in a surge of aluminum foil demand post-pandemic as they are being used for food packaging. But packaging demand from the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries is one of the key factors contributing to the growth in aluminum foil. Also, enhancement in biotechnology and the growing demand for biologics are expected to drive the aluminum foil market. Aluminum foil is used in products such as liquids, powders, and tablets; aluminum foil is used in pharmaceutical packaging due to its properties, such as resisting oxygen, aromas, moisture, gases, light, and microorganisms. The ability to resist microorganisms is the main factor in the demand of aluminum foil market in the COVID-19 times as everyone is concerned about the product's safety. Aluminum foil merging with flexible films is also increasing to create lightweight packages. The aluminum foil packaging of pet food, tuna, coffee, and soups alone produces 13 billion packages across the globe. Aluminum foil packaging is emerging as viable alternatives to conventional plastic packaging. Thus, The COVID-19 has increased the demand for aluminum foil packaging
Impact on Supply Chain
The COVID-19 pandemic has highly disrupted the supply chain of raw materials used to manufacture aluminum foil. It was attributed to the lack of resources and transportation, which led to lower access, delayed stock, and supplies of raw materials products. Additionally, many governments restricted the movement of goods across the countries, and the entire supply chain was distorted. Due to the disrupted supply chain, transportation of raw materials has been interrupted, stalling production. Similarly, inflated prices and halt on aluminum foil production have resulted in the unmet demand for aluminum foil in various end-users such as food, beverages, pharmaceutical, chemical manufacturing, and other industries.
Further, aluminum foil makers are buying more material than they need to survive the breakneck speed at which demand for goods is recovering and assuage that primal fear of running out. This frenzy is pushing supply chains to the brink of seizing up. Shortages, transportation bottlenecks, and price spikes are nearing the highest levels in recent memory raising. Thus, The COVID-19 has impacted negatively on the supply chain of aluminum foil packaging
Conclusion
COVID- 19 pandemic has taken a toll on the population and economy. Increasing demand for the food and beverage industry across the globe is expected to increase the demand for aluminum foil during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic had a strong impact on various factors of the aluminum foil industry. Governments in big countries have imposed nationwide lockdowns and travel restrictions to avoid further virus infection, which created several barriers across the supply chain in the aluminum foil market. As such, market players are introducing new innovative strategies to address the COVID-19 pandemic. While the demand for aluminum foils is growing in the food and beverages industry, the pharmaceutical sector is also offering lucrative growth opportunities to the aluminum foil market. The exponential rise in the demand for drugs and medicines continues to push aluminum foil packaging consumption amidst the public-health crisis.
