Introduction: An altered landscape

Like every other sector of the US economy, the packaging industry suffered its share of setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the whole, however, packaging benefited strongly from changing patterns of consumption that emerged as the nation learned to cope with lockdowns and other restrictions that came with fighting the spread of the disease.

Chart 1 indicates that these trends have been transformative across the board and are expected to remain so even as the pandemic recedes. But growth in some areas happened while other segments stagnated or declined. This points to the fact that in a post-COVID-19 landscape, consumers’ expectations and buying habits will be different from what they were before the pandemic upended their lives.

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