The Niche Payoff

It's tough to get a good feel for how any industry is doing right now as the economy recovers from the worst recession in ages. Recent housing reports indicate that recovery is still sluggish. However, products must be packaged and while not recession-proof, each segment of the packaging market has come through some very difficult times. The folding carton segment, an area taking constant punches from film manufacturers, continues to rebound from, as Ben Markens, president of the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) puts it, falling off a cliff in 2009. "The economists say we are going to have decent growth, but it will take a while to make up for the big losses everybody took in 2008-2009," he says.