by N.S.
In the agrifood sector, packaging can no longer be seen as simply the final stage of the production process. Today it is a factor that directly affects perceived quality, product preservation, logistics efficiency and a company’s ability to respond to increasingly shifting demand.
The international economic backdrop helps explain why this issue is so central: according to the WTO, in 2024 global trade in goods and services reached $32.2 trillion, while world merchandise trade alone grew by 2%; in the same framework, the total value of global merchandise exports reached $24.43 trillion. Within this scenario, WTO data also show that global agricultural exports amounted to around $1.355 trillion in 2024. This means agrifood remains one of the major engines of international value circulation, and that anything improving efficiency, protection and reliability across the supply chain has an immediate economic impact. (Source: WTO)
How important are packaging machines in the agri-food sector?
For companies that build packaging machinery, this environment requires a broader vision than in the past. It is no longer enough to guarantee speed or line robustness: what is needed are systems capable of adapting to different products, different materials, variable batch sizes and increasingly demanding control requirements. In a global context where prices remain under pressure, quality must stay consistent and industrial efficiency becomes critical. The WTO has also pointed out that in 2024 food prices were still around 35% higher than in 2019, while cereals and fertilizers also remained significantly above pre-Covid levels. In other words, agrifood continues to operate in an environment where margins must be protected through more stable and better-controlled processes. (Source: WTO)
This is exactly where packaging becomes an industrial factor rather than just an execution step. A well-designed packaging machine helps reduce downtime, simplifies format changes, integrates in-line controls and makes the process more readable. The value of technology increases when it does more than pack effectively: it contributes to making the entire line more predictable, measurable and easier to manage. For a machine builder, innovation today means designing solutions that address the user’s real challenges: reducing waste, increasing operating flexibility, ensuring production continuity, simplifying maintenance and integrating with more advanced digital systems.
Those who use packaging machines in the agri-food sector enhance the products
From the point of view of the companies using these lines, packaging is increasingly both an operational and a commercial lever. An effective pack protects the product, preserves freshness and integrity, facilitates handling, improves shelf presence and makes information clearer for the customer. Above all, it can affect a huge economic issue: value loss along the supply chain. According to FAO, in 2023 global food losses between post-harvest, storage, transport, processing and wholesale distribution amounted to 13.3% of the total, equivalent to more than $400 billion a year even before the retail stage. For packaging, this figure is crucial: protection, seal integrity, correct pack sizing and process reliability are not just technical details, but concrete tools for retaining economic value within the supply chain. (Source: FAO)
There are several priorities that now clearly unite machine builders and end users:
- better product protection during packaging, transport and distribution
- more precise traceability, useful both for compliance and market credibility
- lower downtime, material waste and product loss
- greater flexibility in handling different formats, weights and pack types
- a better balance between productivity, sustainability and operational simplicity
These factors have a broad impact. Better protection means fewer returns and non-conformities. Better traceability means building trust, especially in international markets. Greater flexibility means adapting more quickly to new channels, new formats and new commercial needs. Reducing waste and inefficiencies means defending margins in a context where energy costs, raw materials and competitive pressure remain high.
There is also another dimension that makes this topic even more strategic: the overall weight of the agrifood system in the global economy. According to the World Bank, agrifood systems employ around one third of the global workforce, with even higher shares in low-income countries. This figure does not concern agriculture alone, but the entire network linking production, processing, logistics and distribution. In an ecosystem of this scale, packaging becomes a coordination point between quality, industry and the market.
In this sense, packaging stops being a separate function and becomes a connecting element between production, quality, logistics and commercial positioning. It is this integrated vision that can help agrifood companies grow in a more structured way: not by chasing speed alone, but by building more reliable processes, better protected products and a stronger relationship with customers, distributors and export markets.
Ultimately, in agrifood, growth belongs to companies that treat packaging as an industrial investment capable of combining technical precision, operational continuity and economic value across the entire supply chain.
