List of the 50 largest packaging manufacturers Germany [2024]

List of the 5 largest packaging manufacturers in Germany

The packaging industry is a fragmented sector with heterogeneous structures. With a turnover of almost 28 billion euros, it has considerable economic importance. The main packaging material is paper or cardboard. Here are the top 5:

1. Novelis Deutschland GmbH, Göttingen

Novelis Deutschland is the German subsidiary of the U.S. Novelis Group, a manufacturer of rolled aluminum products. The company produces beverage cans and aluminum containers for food, convenience food and pharmaceuticals, among other products. Novelis Germany has plants in Göttingen, Koblenz, Nachterstedt, Norf, Plettenberg-Ohle and Voerde.

Update 2023: Novelis Inc. is not only the parent company of Novelis Deutschland GmbH, but also the world market leader in the field of aluminum rolling and aluminum recycling. Novelis is now entering into a partnership with Smart Press Shop, a joint venture between Porsche AG and the Schuler Group from Halle. The aim is to create a closed-loop recycling system. The first cooperations with well-known automobile manufacturers are already in the pipeline.

2. Smurfit Kappa Deutschland GmbH, Hamburg

Smurfit Kappa Group plc is an Irish packaging group and the number 1 in Europe for cardboard production. With over 5,000 employees, Smurfit Kappa Deutschland operates 3 solid board and cardboard mills, 20 corrugated board plants and 4 cardboard converting plants.

Update 2024: Social commitment is a way of life at Smurfit Kappa Germany. Recently, a donation of around €80,000 – combined with a two-day volunteer work assignment – was made to the Caritas support center St. Laurentius and Paulus (Rhineland-Palatinate).

3. SCHÜTZ GmbH & Co. KGaA, Selters/Westerwald

SCHÜTZ was founded in 1958 as a company for heating oil tanks. Today, with around 5,600 employees, the Group is one of the world’s three largest industrial packaging manufacturers and is the global market leader for intermediate bulk containers (IBCs). This is mainly due to the Schütz Industrial Packaging division.

4. Gerresheimer AG, Düsseldorf

Primary packaging made of glass and plastic represents the business model of Gerresheimer AG. The company is named after the Düsseldorf district of Gerresheim, where it was founded in 1864. It has around 10,000 employees. Gerresheimer packaging can be found in numerous foods, medicines and cosmetics.

5. Progroup AG, Landau

Progroup has been in existence since 1991 and considers itself the fourth largest manufacturer of corrugated board in Europe. The company employs over 1,000 people and owns more than a dozen corrugated board plants in Europe. The paper for this is produced in three factories in Burg, Eisenhüttenstadt and Sandersdorf-Brehna.

The German Packaging Producer Industry

We present the largest packaging companies in Germany in our unique list. They are a crucial part of the German economy. Packaging is generally referred to as the deliberately applied wrapping of an object that is as easy to detach as possible. One of the largest packaging manufacturers in Germany is Novelis Deutschland GmbH, with annual sales of 2.6 billion euros for fiscal 2019. Novelis mainly produces various types of packaging made of aluminum, such as beverage cans and aluminum containers for food and pharmaceuticals.

This information will be included in the list

• Company name
• General contact data (address, e-mail address, telephone number, URL)
• Name of the management
• Serial letter suitable for addressing the management (e.g. “Dear Dr. Müller”)
• Sales figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• Employee figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018 (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• Sector classification & Field of activity

Note: If the sales and employee figures are not included in a company’s own financial statements but in the parent company’s consolidated financial statements, the data from the respective consolidated financial statements are provided.

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