April in Review: Packaging’s Month of Pivots, Price Hikes, and Circular Milestones

The packaging industry entered April 2026 expecting another quarter of volatility. What it got instead was a month that proved resilience is not just about weathering storms, it is about building alternatives while the winds are still howling.

The Conflict That Shook the Supply Chain

It started with naphtha. 

As the Middle East conflict escalated, shortages of this petrochemical feedstock sent shockwaves across continents. 

Brent crude climbed from the low US$70s to above US$110 per barrel, and the effects cascaded immediately. 

In India, packaging costs surged 50 to 100%. 

In South Korea, plastic packaging prices doubled almost overnight. Polypropylene prices across Asia hit record highs, jumping 59%.

Governments scrambled to respond. Indonesia slashed plastic import duties to zero for six months. Carlsberg secured alternative packaging suppliers in India and Nepal. But the message was unmistakable: when the Strait of Hormuz chokes, the humble beer can feels it first.

Yet even as supply chains buckled, a different story was unfolding elsewhere in the industry.

Deals That Defied the Chaos

Despite the uncertainty, dealmakers kept their checkbooks open. 

International Paper shelled out US$360 million for NORPAC‘s one-million-tonne containerboard mill, strengthening its West Coast footprint just as e-commerce demand surged. 

CD&R sealed its US$10.3 billion takeover of Sealed Air, taking the Bubble Wrap maker private.

ProAmpac completed its US$1.51 billion acquisition of TC Transcontinental Packaging, adding 25 facilities and 3,500 employees.

Smaller but equally strategic moves dotted the month as well. 

Vantage Capital injected US$45 million into Egyptian coatings manufacturer MIDO. Dunapack Packaging acquired three German corrugated sites with €74 million (approximately US$80 million) in revenue. 

Mediterrania Capital snapped up 100% of Amcor Flexibles Mohammedia. The message was clear: capital still sees packaging as essential infrastructure, conflict or no conflict.

Regulation Hardens into Action

While the private sector pivoted, governments translated sustainability promises into binding rules. 

India’s FSSAI proposed a total plastic ban for gutka and pan masala packaging, mandating paper and cellulose only. 

The UAE expanded food-contact approval to recycled PP, HDPE, and LDPE beyond the usual rPET, opening the door for tubs, trays, and flexible films. 

Nigeria launched a national small-battery collection scheme, proving that even the tiniest waste streams matter.

Not all regulatory moves went unchallenged. New York faced fierce industry opposition to its proposed 75% packaging recycling mandate, with the Flexible Packaging Association warning that the target was unattainable without advanced recycling technologies, which the bill also banned. 

The debate captured a tension that ran through the entire month: ambition without a technological pathway is not a solution; it is a prohibition.

Innovation: Fibre Takes Centre Stage

April proved that the industry was not waiting for permission. Across labs and production floors, fibre-based breakthroughs moved from pilot to scale. 

PulPac and Future Materials began mass production of fibre-based snus cans in Sweden, targeting a category that generates billions of small plastic containers annually. 

Duni Group launched a paper bowl that uses 85% less plastic than comparable plastic bowls and cuts CO₂ emissions by more than half.

Perhaps most significantly, Nextek and Coveris switched on the COtooCLEAN plant in Lincolnshire, a supercritical CO₂ extraction facility that strips food-grade resin from flexible films, addressing a contamination problem that conventional mechanical recycling has never solved. 

Michelman introduced 100% bio-based, plastic-free coatings for retail food packaging, while Cullen Sustainable Packaging invested £5 million (approximately US$6.3 million) in Glasgow for an in-house moulded fibre machine that processes 8,000 tonnes of its own corrugate waste annually.

The pattern was consistent: paper is no longer a compromise. It is an upgrade.

Earnings: The Two-Speed Market

Corporate results told two stories simultaneously. Crown Holdings grew sales to US$3.26 billion, up 13%, as global beverage can volumes advanced 5%. 

International Paper’s net sales rose 13.4% to US$5.97 billion, with North America packaging profit hitting US$248 million. Sonoco’s Q1 profit rose to US$67.6 million despite a sales dip.

But not everyone rode the same wave. SIG Group‘s revenue fell 4.2% to €714.3 million (approximately US$765 million). 

Norske Skog‘s pre-tax profit plunged 46% to Nkr236 million (approximately US$25.2 million), even as its packaging paper revenue rose 89%. 

Ranpak saw automation revenue more than double to US$13.4 million, a 112.7% surge, yet still reported a net loss of US$10.2 million.

The divergence was instructive. Companies with exposure to flexible packaging and e-commerce automation grew. Those still tethered to legacy paper and publication markets struggled. The industry was not recovering uniformly; it was reallocating.

India: The Subcontinent Flexes

No regional story captured April’s complexity better than India. 

The subcontinent dominated the month’s narrative, not through one headline but through a cascade of them. 

Baheti Recycling added new automotive OEM customers and grew profit 50%. Polyplex expanded into digital print. 

SK Agrofood Tech launched a Temple-Tech division for Prasad packaging, proving that even sacred offerings can benefit from modern materials science. 

NowPurchase raised ₹80 crore (approximately US$9.6 million) to scale scrap recycling infrastructure.

Yet even here, the conflict’s shadow fell. AWL Agri Business flagged a 20% rise in oil-linked costs, with Brent crude above US$110 squeezing margins on everything from cooking oil to rice. 

India’s packaging sector was not insulated from global shocks; it was simply moving faster than most to adapt.

The Bottom Line

As April closed, a pattern had emerged. The industry is no longer waiting for stable oil prices or predictable shipping lanes. It is building alternatives, locking in suppliers, and betting that fibre, automation, and circularity will outlast the next disruption. 

The headlines were about war. The undercurrent was transformation. And for the first time in months, that felt like progress.

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