Dow’s flexible packaging solutions for Nigeria

One of the biggest challenges confronting Nigeria’s manufacturing industry is poor product packaging.

The country has faced international shame in recent times, as several products shipped outside its shores have been rejected on the back of poor packaging and standardisation issues.

Africa’s largest economy has embraced rigid packaging solutions, rather than flexible or plastic solutions that are re-shaping the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) segment across the world.

Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics is bringing flexible solutions to the FMCGs segment of the country’s economy to increase the shelf life of food products made in the country as well as  ensure that companies save costs.

Senior management of Dow told Real Sector Watch in Johannesburg, South Africa, that the company was bringing in several solutions that were environmentally friendly, cost-effective and convenient for Nigerians, and was seeking partnerships in the country so as to re-define the packaging space of Africa’s biggest economy.

Diego Donoso, business president, Dow Packaging and Plastics, said Nigeria and many parts of the world had not embraced flexible packaging solutions because the majority had not seen the merits of plastics/flexible packaging.

“When I go to Nigerian supermarkets, I see a lot of evolutions. What I see in Nigeria is thicker packaging. People tend to think that the thicker it is the more sustainable or better it becomes, but this is not so. It rather means that the polymer that was chosen was not sophisticated,” Donoso further said.

Donoso said the demand for more sophisticated shopping and retail was increasing in Nigeria and the rest of the African continent, stressing that consumers now wanted food which was fresh, healthy and conveniently packed.

Dow’s solution is extended to Africa, which is world’s fastest growing region after Asia. In Africa, 45 percent of the GDP growth comes from consumer sectors, pointing to rising income and middle-class.

Nigeria has a population of almost 180 million. The packaging industry is driven by the huge population, changing lifestyles of urban dwellers, and high rate of rural-urban migration, which has seen many prefer packaged to traditional foods.

A lot of made-in-Nigeria’s over-the-counter products are still poorly packaged, with bland colourations and descriptions that make them look inferior to second-rate Asian products, which are better designed and packaged.

A number of packaging firms in Africa’s biggest economy do not follow global trends such as green and smart packaging, digital printing and sensory packaging,  which are more attractive to shoppers and environmentally sustainable.

Nigeria also relies mainly on rigid materials for the packaging of its juice, beer, snacks, soft drinks, toiletries, diapers, and over-the-counter drugs, even when the world has moved on to flexible packaging, which is environmentally friendlier, sustainable, lightweight and cheaper. Food products like bananas do not last beyond two days  as the country’s retail shops still use cellophanes for their packaging, rather than cheap plastic solutions which can increase its shelf life to 14 days.

“Flexible packaging can extend the shelf life of foods from three to 14 days,” said Dana Mosora, Dow’s sustainability and advocacy director, Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Mosora said flexible packaging could reduce food spoilage and wastes, stressing the need to correct wrong impressions of this type of packaging in Africa.

Javier Constante, Dow’s commercial vice president, Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Europe, Middle East and Africa, said the problem confronting Nigeria and other parts of Africa was not often plastics but what we would often do with them.

Constante said with innovations that had gone into flexible packaging from Dow Chemicals, a food like cucumber could last for up to 14 days, rather than four days.

Marco Amici, one of Dow’s marketing managers, told BusinessDay in Johannesburg, South Africa, that the company produced foamed films which were sustainable and could reduce material waste and carbon footprint.

“Our products are up to 100 percent cost-saving vs solid forms. It also guarantees greater shelf life appeal through distinct haptic and pearl effect,” Amici said.

Analysts say Nigeria’s sophisticated growing middle-class and the young population are more attracted to products that are better designed and smartly packaged, which informs their preference for foreign products over locally manufactured goods.

Fabrice Digonnet, business development leader, based in Switzerland, said Dow’s flexible packaging solution reduced weight and enhanced consumer convenience and sustainable design.

 

ODINAKA ANUDU

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