19 December 2014

Tokyo Label Forum looks to growth options

As Japan’s economy falters, label converters are looking at fast-growing regional markets and asking how domestic competitiveness can be improved.

Presentations from Lintec Corporation and expert magazine Label Shimbun showed the challenges facing the Japanese label industry during the latest edition of the Japan Label Forum. Held in Tokyo, the Forum attracted some 4,000 visitors and supported a busy supplier arena.

The downward trajectory of the Japanese label and packaging market has been directly impacted by a number of economic shocks and natural disasters, starting with the global financial crash of 2008-9 and exacerbated in 2011 by the successive shocks of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, the Eurozone crisis and floods in Thailand.

The dislocation of global markets on which Japan depended, the strengthening Yen, and power shortages following the earthquake, pushed Japanese manufacturing industry to relocate off-shore or to outsource production. Demand for adhesive labels dropped by 10 percent between 2008-2014 and shows little sign of returning to pre-crisis levels.

Longer-term trends are also impacting negatively on the labels and packaging sector. Japan is facing the consequences of an aging population, with 1: 2.5 classified as ‘aged’, or ‘non- productive’. This is reducing demand for consumer goods, creating a skills shortage and exacerbating the other problems faced by the Japanese economy.