从“满天星”到“数智集群”：中国包装业探寻产业升级新路From "Starry Sky" to "Digital Intelligence Cluster": China's Packaging Industry Exploring New Paths for Industrial Upgrading

  新华网北京6月18日电（记者 陈延特）今年4月，中国包装联合会向全产业链及上下游有关单位征集《中国包装工业发展规划（2026-2030年）》意见建议。截至6月，该规划已完成前期调研与草案研讨，进入公开征求意见的关键阶段。

  作为国民经济重要配套产业，包装行业正处在由“规模扩张”向“质量效益”转型的重要关口。面对“大而不强、散而低效”的结构性矛盾，如何以数字化、智能化破解行业痛点，实现从“满天星”到“数智集群”的跃迁？这不仅是行业自身的必答题，更是建设现代化产业体系的微观缩影。

2025年中国包装行业运行简报。来源：中国包装联合会官网

  正视“大而不强”痛点，厘清转型紧迫性

  “我国是包装行业的生产第一大国。去年，2万余家规模以上企业，累计营收超2万亿元人民币。”中国包装联合会纸制品委员会常务副主任兼秘书长张耀权在接受采访时介绍，改革开放以来，我国经济高速发展，包装行业迅速经历了“快速扩张、稳步增长、理性发展”到现在向高质量发展转型的过程。以纸包装行业为例，我国超过13万家瓦楞纸包装企业，产量占到全球总产量的35%，远超美欧日等发达经济体。

  然而，体量巨大背后，隐忧犹存。

  张耀权指出，受市场成熟度低、整合不足影响，行业长期存在“小、散、乱”问题。中国前20大企业的市场占有率不足15%，市场集中度远低于发达国家水平。同时，低准入门槛导致大量小微企业涌入，产能过剩引发残酷“价格战”，设备利用率下降，行业“内卷”加剧。

  天眼查数据显示，截至目前，我国现存续/在业状态的包装相关企业超300万家，仅2026年以来新增注册企业约19万余家。

  与此同时，包装企业身处产业链“夹心层”。张耀权仍以纸包装为例，上游原纸成本占企业总成本高达80%，受国际局势、关税政策等影响波动剧烈；下游电商需求呈现“多品种、小批量、快交付、微利润”特征。两头挤压之下，传统粗放发展模式已难以为继。

数字化工厂。来源：东经科技

  探索以“数智集群”之路，重构产业生态

  破解困境，路在何方？

  面对“高离散、低效率、强内卷”的现状，依靠少数巨头兼并重组实现行业整合，并非中国国情下的最优解。张耀权认为，必须探索一条通过技术赋能提升整体效能的新路，“数字化转型和产业链整合是重要出路。”

  “满天星星、没有月亮。”浙江东经科技股份有限公司首席战略官李林潼以该企业在包装行业30年发展的观察，比喻了行业长期以来的离散状态。全国90%以上纸包装企业为中小微企业，抗风险能力弱，常年经历市场洗牌的严峻考验。

  为此，东经科技自2013年启动向互联网转型的战略，于2016年创建了首个纸包装行业产业互联网平台“东经易网”，逐步构建出“智能平台+数字化工厂”双核驱动发展模式。其核心在于“联接”与“赋能”：智能平台负责汇聚海量订单，解决获客难问题；数字化工厂则通过标准化产品和数字化管理，解决交付效率低、成本高的问题。

  “将成千上万种非标需求转化为几十种标准产品。”李林潼介绍，通过工业大数据测算，原本“多品种、小批量”的生产难题被转化为“少品种、大批量”的高效生产。同时，数字化工厂实现从接单到配送的全流程数字化闭环，挖掘每一分钱、每一秒钟效率潜力。

  他以真实案例数据举例：合作工厂在半年到一年内订单量实现翻倍，单品接单量从日均千余平方提升至数万平方，生产效率提升几十倍。不仅解决了生产效率问题，更通过数字化改造帮助中小企业降低损耗，提升管理效率，平均提升2-3个百分点的盈利水平。

纸包装产业大脑平台界面。来源：东经科技

  激活“数据要素”之力，迈向现代化产业体系

  数字化转型的深层意义，不仅在于降本增效，更在于推动行业从“经验驱动”向“数据驱动”根本性转变。

  李林潼介绍，经过多年深耕，东经科技已积累11200多亿条有效数据，形成120亿条数据资产和80T工业数据集，并参与制定多项国家标准，以及行业数据的分层分类标准化工作。基于此，平台推出“原纸价格指数”和“制造业包装用量指数”等普惠工具，前者指导企业合理调控原材料库存，后者甚至可以监测细化到街道和行业级别的包装用量趋势。此外，行业首个知识图谱和智能助手的建立，让中小企业也能便捷获取标准化的工艺和管理解决方案。该模式不仅提升了单个企业的竞争力，更为整个行业的标准化、规范化发展奠定了基础。

  张耀权表示，未来，中国包装就是要“建设现代化中国纸包装产业体系”。展望“十五五”，中国包装行业的发展路径已日益清晰，不是走向寡头垄断，而是走向智能化、绿色化的集约发展。

  在“双碳”背景下，纸包装本身具备高循环利用率（约70%）和低能耗特性的绿色属性。数字化平台的普及，将进一步激活存量产能，提高原材料利用率，为节能减排提供技术支撑。“未来包装行业的竞争，将是智能化水平和先进工艺的竞争。”李林潼强调。

  从“义乌发展经验”到“东经模式”，中国包装行业正在探索一条具有中国特色的产业升级之路，通过数字化赋能、智能化改造、绿色化引领，中国包装业必将加快从“大”到“强”的跨越，为建设现代化产业体系注入强劲动能。

Beijing, June 18 (Xinhua) -- In April of this year, the China Packaging Federation solicited opinions and suggestions on the "China Packaging Industry Development Plan (2026-2030)" from relevant units in the entire industry chain and upstream and downstream. As of June, the plan has completed preliminary research and draft discussions, and entered the critical stage of soliciting public opinions.

As an important supporting industry of the national economy, the packaging industry is at a critical juncture of transitioning from "scale expansion" to "quality and efficiency". Faced with the structural contradictions of "large but not strong, scattered but inefficient", how to use digitalization and intelligence to solve industry pain points and achieve the transition from "star studded" to "digital intelligence cluster"? This is not only a mandatory question for the industry itself, but also a microcosm of building a modern industrial system.

2025 China Packaging Industry Operation Briefing. Source: Official website of China Packaging Federation

Facing the pain points of 'big but not strong' and clarifying the urgency of transformation

China is the largest producer in the packaging industry. Last year, there were over 20000 large-scale enterprises with a cumulative revenue of over 2 trillion yuan, "said Zhang Yaoquan, Executive Deputy Director and Secretary General of the Paper Products Committee of the China Packaging Federation, in an interview. Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has developed rapidly, and the packaging industry has gone through a process of" rapid expansion, steady growth, and rational development "to now transform into high-quality development. Taking the paper packaging industry as an example, there are over 130000 corrugated paper packaging enterprises in China, accounting for 35% of the global total production, far exceeding developed economies such as the United States, Europe, and Japan.

However, behind the huge scale, there are still hidden concerns.

Zhang Yaoquan pointed out that due to the low market maturity and insufficient integration, the industry has long been plagued by problems of "small, scattered, and chaotic". The market share of China's top 20 enterprises is less than 15%, and the market concentration is much lower than that of developed countries. At the same time, low entry barriers have led to a large influx of small and micro enterprises, overcapacity has triggered a brutal "price war", equipment utilization has declined, and industry "internal competition" has intensified.

According to Tianyancha data, as of now, there are over 3 million packaging related enterprises in China that are still in operation, with about 190000 newly registered enterprises since 2026 alone.

At the same time, packaging companies are in the "sandwich layer" of the industrial chain. Zhang Yaoquan still takes paper packaging as an example. The cost of upstream raw paper accounts for up to 80% of the total cost of the enterprise, and it fluctuates greatly due to international situations, tariff policies, and other factors; The downstream e-commerce demand presents the characteristics of "multiple varieties, small batches, fast delivery, and low profits". Under the pressure of both ends, the traditional extensive development model is no longer sustainable.

Digital factory. Source: Dongjing Technology

Exploring the Path of "Digital Intelligence Cluster" and Reconstructing the Industrial Ecology

Where is the way to solve the dilemma?

Faced with the current situation of "high dispersion, low efficiency, and strong internal competition", relying on mergers and acquisitions of a few giants to achieve industry integration is not the optimal solution under China's national conditions. Zhang Yaoquan believes that a new path must be explored to enhance overall efficiency through technological empowerment. "Digital transformation and industrial chain integration are important ways out

The sky is full of stars, but there is no moon, "said Li Lintong, Chief Strategy Officer of Zhejiang Dongjing Technology Co., Ltd., using his observation of the company's 30-year development in the packaging industry as a metaphor for the industry's long-term dispersion. More than 90% of paper packaging enterprises in China are small and medium-sized enterprises with weak risk resistance capabilities, and have been subjected to severe market reshuffling tests for many years.

To this end, Dongjing Technology launched the strategy of transforming to the Internet in 2013, created the first paper packaging industry Internet platform "Dongjing E-net" in 2016, and gradually built a dual core driven development model of "intelligent platform+digital factory". Its core lies in "connection" and "empowerment": the intelligent platform is responsible for aggregating massive orders and solving the problem of difficult customer acquisition; Digital factories solve the problems of low delivery efficiency and high costs through standardized products and digital management.

Transforming thousands of non-standard demands into dozens of standard products, "said Li Lintong. Through industrial big data calculation, the production problem of" multiple varieties and small batches "has been transformed into efficient production of" few varieties and large batches ". At the same time, the digital factory realizes a full process digital closed-loop from receiving orders to delivery, tapping into the efficiency potential of every penny and every second.

He gave real case data as an example: the cooperative factory doubled its order volume within six months to a year, and the daily order volume for a single product increased from over a thousand square meters to tens of thousands of square meters, with production efficiency improved by dozens of times. Not only does it solve the problem of production efficiency, but it also helps small and medium-sized enterprises reduce losses and improve management efficiency through digital transformation, resulting in an average increase of 2-3 percentage points in profitability.

Paper packaging industry brain platform interface. Source: Dongjing Technology

Activate the power of "data elements" and move towards a modern industrial system

The profound significance of digital transformation lies not only in reducing costs and increasing efficiency, but also in promoting the fundamental transformation of the industry from "experience driven" to "data-driven".

Li Lintong introduced that after years of deep cultivation, Dongjing Technology has accumulated more than 1.12 billion valid data, formed 12 billion data assets and an 80T industrial dataset, and participated in the formulation of multiple national standards, as well as the standardization of hierarchical classification of industry data. Based on this, the platform has launched universal tools such as the "Raw Paper Price Index" and the "Manufacturing Packaging Usage Index". The former guides enterprises to reasonably regulate raw material inventory, while the latter can even monitor packaging usage trends at the street and industry levels. In addition, the establishment of the industry's first knowledge graph and intelligent assistant enables small and medium-sized enterprises to easily access standardized process and management solutions. This model not only enhances the competitiveness of individual enterprises, but also lays the foundation for the standardized and regulated development of the entire industry.

Zhang Yaoquan stated that in the future, China's packaging industry aims to "build a modern Chinese paper packaging industry system". Looking ahead to the 15th Five Year Plan, the development path of China's packaging industry is becoming increasingly clear, not towards oligopoly monopoly, but towards intensive development of intelligence and greenness.

In the context of "dual carbon", paper packaging itself has the green attributes of high recycling rate (about 70%) and low energy consumption. The popularization of digital platforms will further activate existing production capacity, improve raw material utilization, and provide technical support for energy conservation and emission reduction. The competition in the future packaging industry will be the competition of intelligence level and advanced technology, "Li Lintong emphasized.

From the "Yiwu Development Experience" to the "Dongjing Model", China's packaging industry is exploring a path of industrial upgrading with Chinese characteristics. Through digital empowerment, intelligent transformation, and green leadership, China's packaging industry will accelerate its leap from "big" to "strong", injecting strong momentum into the construction of a modern industrial system.

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