Green demand reshapes Vietnam’s packaging market as EU rules tighten

Sustainability becomes a commercial driver

Vietnam’s packaging market is entering a new phase in which environmental performance, digital capabilities and information transparency increasingly determine competitiveness. According to VnEconomy, a newly released Vietnam Report survey found that 81.2% of packaging businesses view green consumption and demand for sustainable packaging as an important growth driver. That exceeds the 65.7% citing an improvement in domestic consumption.

The shift is being supported by a recovery in manufacturing, consumer demand and exports. In 2025, extended producer responsibility, or EPR, and other environmental requirements primarily established new compliance rules. In 2026, the pressure is reaching further into companies’ choices of raw materials, production systems and supply-chain management. The EU’s Regulation 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste, known as PPWR, is due to apply fully from 12 August 2026, covering packaging design, material use, reuse, recycling and waste management.

Customers want greener packaging but remain price-sensitive

The Vietnam Report survey shows that 96.5% of packaging companies have drawn up plans and partly implemented ESG commitments. All surveyed businesses said ESG requirements from customers and partners were increasing, and 100% expected to raise ESG investment in 2026. These findings indicate that sustainability requirements are moving beyond corporate pledges and becoming part of commercial relationships and supplier selection.

Consumer attitudes point in the same direction, although price remains decisive. Some 33.9% of consumers said they were always willing to pay more for products using environmentally friendly packaging, while 53.9% would do so if the additional cost were reasonable. Another 9% would choose such packaging only when no alternative was available, and 3.3% were unwilling to pay extra. Packaging suppliers therefore face a dual requirement: improving environmental performance while keeping products affordable for manufacturers and consumers.

Information and recycled materials move up the agenda

Clear, complete and readable product information was the packaging attribute cited most frequently by consumers, at 73.8%. Convenience in use and storage followed at 59.4%, while 54.2% selected attractive design. Environmental friendliness, reusability or ease of decomposition mattered to 41.9%. The results suggest that packaging is increasingly valued as a source of trusted information and practical functionality, not only as a visual tool.

Raw-material strategy is also changing. Every surveyed company identified greater use of recycled material as the most important ESG trend for the next five years. VnEconomy linked that priority to tighter requirements in major export markets, particularly the EU, for recyclability and recycled content. Access to suitable inputs, reliable documentation and consistent material quality will therefore affect whether Vietnamese suppliers can retain positions in international supply chains.

Data systems become essential for ESG delivery

Companies are extending environmental management beyond their factory gates. The survey found that 57.7% prioritize reducing carbon emissions across the value chain, while 50.1% focus on tracing the origin of raw materials. That brings suppliers, transport and the end-of-life stage of packaging into the measurement process, in line with the value-chain approach used for Scope 3 emissions under the GHG Protocol.

Digital capacity will determine how effectively companies can verify recycled content, resource consumption, emissions and input origins. Some 68.4% of surveyed businesses have introduced technology in selected production or management processes, while 25.9% report broad deployment across the enterprise. Vietnam Report expects the industry to enter a new growth cycle in 2026. Suppliers able to combine sustainable materials, traceable data and cost-efficient production will be better placed to serve both the recovering domestic market and export customers facing stricter packaging standards.