The development of China's paper packaging industry has been synchronized with China's reform and opening up. After nearly 36 years of hard work and struggle, China has become the world's largest producer of paper packaging, but it is not yet a strong producer.

　　China's paper packaging industry has taken a different path from that of countries and regions such as Europe and the United States. According to China's national conditions, the industry's transformation and development cannot simply copy or imitate others. How to find a new path is a major issue facing us.

　　Inevitable price wars?

　　Strictly speaking, the papermaking industry and the paper box industry belong to the same industry, but in China, these two industries are relatively independent and distinct. Why is this so? In addition to the influence of the general background of China's economic development model, the "small farmer consciousness" existing in the paper box industry is also a very important reason. It is this consciousness that has blocked the penetration of the industrial chain. As a result, the scale of papermaking enterprises is getting larger and larger, and in order to protect their own small plots of land, paper box enterprises can only rely on the eternal "guerrilla warfare".

　　In fact, it is very difficult for the paper box industry to occupy a place in the national economic system as an independent industry. First, China's paper box enterprises are still fighting alone, and a market radius of 300 kilometers is the ceiling of their growth; second, competing with upstream papermaking enterprises and downstream end users, plus direct competition from peers, paper box enterprises are facing enemies on both sides, and this business model ultimately determines the small, scattered, and chaotic pattern of the paper box industry.

　　At present, China's paper product output has ranked among the top in the world. In 2011, the world produced a total of 200.22 billion square meters of corrugated cardboard, and China's output reached 53.55 billion square meters, accounting for 1/4. However, due to differences in statistical caliber, the actual output of corrugated cardboard in China may be far more than this number. China's paper box enterprises are like "local guerrillas", ubiquitous. In Shanxi, there were once 108 paper box enterprises on a single street. And the scene of hundreds of paper box enterprises on a single street across the country is not just a special case in Shanxi. In He Shang Town, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City, the whole town is a gathering place for numerous paper box enterprises.

　　Today, there is another serious fact to note: the profit of paper box enterprises is already very low, because their production costs are high, with raw material costs accounting for about 70% of the total cost. In the face of fierce market competition among peers, paper box enterprises seem to have no other choice, and the only means is to use low prices to compete for survival space. However, price means is the lowest-end way in business competition. If everyone relies on price wars to seek development, there is actually no way out. Therefore, we see that even though a number of enterprises with strong financial strength have emerged in the industry, they have the ability to invest tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan to develop paper box business, but they still face the same problem: enterprises are difficult to grow and become stronger, and it is difficult to achieve economies of scale.

　　It seems that the paper box industry is encountering systemic bottlenecks, not a problem of a specific link. In other words, the existing operation or business model of the entire paper box industry has reached the ceiling of development and must explore new models.

　　How to break out of the development vicious cycle?

　　According to incomplete statistics from the Paper Products Packaging Committee of the China Packaging Federation, there are currently 4,500 corrugated cardboard production lines nationwide. With such a production pattern, let alone the survival and development of enterprises, just meeting the national environmental protection requirements alone is a difficult hurdle for many paper box enterprises that blindly pursue production capacity.

　　Now some places require that within the next 3 years, all enterprises that discharge pollutants into the atmosphere must pass environmental protection acceptance. For many paper box enterprises with meager profits, this may be a fatal blow. Some phenomena worth reflecting on have emerged. Some paper box enterprises feel that selling paper boxes is not profitable, so they simply rent out their production sites. From this, we can see that the current operating conditions of some paper box enterprises are extremely bleak.

　　This is the case with small enterprises, and large projects are not necessarily better. A company in Chongqing made a large investment in a corrugated paper box project, with a phase one investment of 500 million yuan, but it still uses the original production and operation model, and the products and services themselves have not been broken through.

　　There is a project in Jiangsu that has invested 1.05 billion yuan. This paper box enterprise is the world's largest single plant. Its production process and logistics are arranged reasonably, so the operation is also good. This enterprise plans to "clone" another factory 500 kilometers away. So is this form a breakthrough of the existing model? I think it needs time to test.

　　The packaging industry has a wide range of involvement and is closely related to people's consumption life. Now China is vigorously promoting urbanization, which means that more and more producers will gradually become consumers, so the development space of the packaging industry will become larger. Therefore, the growth rate of the packaging industry in 2014 will not be lower than 12%, and the scope and types of application of paper packaging will also increase, which is a huge opportunity for the industry. However, it should also be seen that the upstream papermaking industry is trying to open up the manufacturing channels of papermaking and paper packaging production, and hopes to directly contact end users. And end users are also trying to change their business model, and some brands are running their own paper box enterprises. If the production and operation model of paper box enterprises does not change, can they still adapt to the new round of market competition?

　　Changing concepts and ideas is the key

　　Under the situation of rapid development of the Internet and rapid updating of technology, surrounding the transformation and development, paper box enterprises should quickly come up with new ideas and methods. The biggest problem and confusion of the whole industry at present is the problem of concepts and ideas. Let's see how "outsiders" operate paper box projects.

　　In 2013, Shandong Century Sunshine Paper Industry Group Co., Ltd. launched the "Sunshine Concept Packaging Pre-printing Project", providing end customers with a one-stop printing and packaging solution from creativity and design to packaging and logistics, namely the Sunshine New Concept Packaging Solution. This is a new attempt by papermaking enterprises to open up the industrial chain.

　　In Europe and the United States, 40% of corrugated boxes are produced by papermaking enterprises. In China, upstream papermaking enterprises blindly pursue scale and become larger and larger; downstream paper box enterprises, however, are characterized by large numbers, small scale, and scattered distribution. There are currently more than 40,000 paper box enterprises in China. The huge difference in size between "elephants" and "ants" makes the two types of enterprises, papermaking and paper boxes, not intervene in each other, forming a fragmented situation. Multiple links and many participants not only make the production cost and cycle of packaging high and long, but also bring difficulties in control to downstream enterprises. The Century Sunshine New Concept Packaging Solution is not only an innovative transformation of an enterprise, but also makes a positive exploration for the healthy development of the traditional paper box industry.