Big Box containers are one-piece thick-walled vessels with a varying extent of rigidity. Containers have a variety of holding capacities, but the most widespread ones are Big Boxes of 450, 600 and 1,000 liters.

Big Boxes are used for transporting solid, loose and liquid substances. They are also used for various purposes in many industrial sectors including the chemical, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, textile and automobile industries as well as at most enterprises of the food industry and agriculture, from the fields to the supermarkets. Main consumers are food enterprises accounting for a share of 98% of Big Boxes consumption. Non-food industries account for approximately 2%. Among the sectors of the food industry, the largest consumers are the fish industry accounting for about 50% of consumption of all Big Boxes and the meat-packing industry accounting for 45%. The other sectors of the food industry consume about 3% of Big Boxes.

Consumption of Big Boxes by the fish industry depends on the season. In spring months, when fish is spawning, the demand for Big Boxes rises, while in the other months it is almost non-existent. In the meat-packing industry the demand is stable all year round, without any seasonal peaks.

Production of Big Boxes in Russia

Anion Ltd., with its factories – one in the town of Klin (Moscow Province), and the other in the town of Dzerzhinsk (Nizhny Novgorod Province), produces Big Boxes in Russia.

At present, it produces four types of Big Boxes:

In 2007, the volume of output of Big Boxes decreased by 5% as compared to 2006. Sixty percent of the containers produced were Big Boxes with the capacity of 500 liters, and 20% of them had the capacity of 1,000 liters.

In 2006, the volume of output of Big Boxes in Russia was USD 126,285 worth, and in 2007 it was USD 141,893 worth. The growth of more than 11% was associated with the strengthening of the Russian ruble against the dollar in those years.

The small volume of output of Big Boxes in Russia is explained by the novelty of the product. Many potential consumers are not well informed about Big Boxes and possibilities of their use.

Table 2. The rating of supplier countries

Source: Federal Customs Services; estimates: Abercade Research Company

The main suppliers of Big Boxes into Russia are Israel, Germany, Lithuania and Poland. Their total share in the imports constitutes from 82.6% to 77.4%, while the other countries account for 6.8% of total imports.

According to the FCS data, small amounts of Big Boxes are exported by Russia to Ukraine, Germany and Kazakhstan:

Table 3 Export of Big Boxes

Source: Federal Customs Services; estimates: Abercade Research Company

Russian consumers have sufficiently appreciated the advantages of Big Boxes. The market is in place. The fish and the meat-packing industry use them in rather large amounts. Market stabilization over the past few years as well as the emergence of Russian manufacturers testify to a sufficient saturation of the market with this kind of tare, and its further growth may continue at a similar rate along with the growth of its main consumers, i.e. at 3-5% annually.