Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing (U.S. NAICS 32222)

An investor's primer — for both public-market and private investors.

Short page — a pass-through level. In the U.S. Census Bureau's North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), this five-digit industry (32222) contains exactly one six-digit industry beneath it — 322220, Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing. The two are the same business, and their federal statistics are identical. This page gives the level's own ground-truth numbers and the short version of the story; for the full treatment — product families, company-by-company investable universe, margin mechanics, and the regulatory detail — read the child primer, NAICS 322220.

1. Overview

This industry takes paper that someone else already made and turns it into something more useful: it cuts and coats paper and paperboard, laminates paper with foil or film, and makes bags and sacks. Think grocery and shopping bags, multiwall sacks for cement and pet food, grease-resistant fast-food wrappers, the silicone-coated backing paper (the "release liner") that peels off every sticker, and the barrier-coated papers now replacing plastic film.[1][4]

It is a converting business: owners buy input paper, energy, and chemicals and earn a spread on the finished coated or bagged product. That makes it moderately cyclical and input-cost-sensitive, but with a defensive, steadily growing core riding two durable themes — paper-for-plastic substitution and the growth of labels, e-commerce, and takeout food.[1][4]

2. What's inside — and why this level equals its one child

At the five-digit level, 32222 has a single six-digit child:

Because there is only one child, the five-digit industry and the six-digit industry describe the same establishments, firms, shipments, and employment. Nothing is lost or added rolling up from 322220 to 32222. The three product families all live inside that one child: (1) paper bags and sacks, (2) coated and treated papers, and (3) release liners and laminates. See the child primer for how each works.[1][4]

3. How big it is

Federal statistics for this level (our ground truth; identical to the child):

At roughly $26.8 billion of shipments across 485 firms and 715 plants, the average plant ships on the order of $37 million a year (2022 receipts over 2023 plant count — approximate).[1][2] Average pay near $68,000 reflects a skilled, capital-intensive manufacturing workforce.[1] More recent BLS data showed 55,000 employees in May 2026, roughly flat from 54,700 in June 2025 — suggesting stable rather than rapidly growing aggregate employment.[3]

Undercount caveat. This is a formal manufacturing industry, so the federal counts are reasonably complete — the distortion runs the other way. Because NAICS classifies each plant by its primary activity, coated- and treated-paper lines embedded inside integrated paper/paperboard mills (counted under mill codes 322120/322130) fall outside this total, and imports supply part of U.S. consumption that domestic-production figures miss.[4][5] So the ~$26.8 billion is the standalone-converter slice, not total U.S. demand for these products.

4. The investable universe — where value concentrates

Because the level equals its one child, value concentrates exactly where it does in 322220: there is no pure "paper-bag stock." Most output is made inside large, diversified packaging companies, plus a handful of specialty converters, and much of the concentrated pure exposure sits in private hands.

• Closest public pure-play: Mativ Holdings (NYSE: MATV) — release liners and specialty coated/treated papers.[13]
• Diversified public exposure: International Paper (IP), Sonoco (SON), Amcor (AMCR), Avery Dennison (AVY), Packaging Corp. (PKG), Graphic Packaging (GPK), and foreign-listed Sappi/Mondi/UPM — in each, this industry is only a slice of a broader business.[2][12]
• Major private owners: Novolex/Pactiv (Apollo-backed, with CPP Investments as a minority investor), ProAmpac, Loparex, Ahlstrom, and Twin Rivers — often as relevant as the public names.[10][11][15]

The company-by-company detail (tickers, scale, relevance) is in the child primer's investable-universe table.

5. How the money works

Owners earn a converting spread — the gap between the price of finished coated paper or bags and the cost of the inputs (kraft paper, paperboard, pulp, foil, film, coating chemicals, and energy for drying).[7] The levers that matter, all appropriate to capital-intensive manufacturing rather than to utilities, REITs, or miners:

• Spread (gross margin per ton) — input-fiber, energy, and chemical costs versus finished price.
• Capacity utilization — coating lines and bag machines are costly fixed assets; margins rise and fall with how fully they run. USITC found that shopping-bag production volume declined even as sales value rose during 2020–2022, while costs rose faster than revenue and operating income fell.[6]
• Pass-through and lag — many contracts are index-linked, but price increases trail cost spikes by a quarter or two; Pactiv Evergreen reported an average lag of approximately three months.[8]
• Specialty vs. commodity mix — the biggest driver of returns; silicone liners and PFAS-free barrier coatings carry richer, stickier margins than commodity grocery bags.[13]
• Freight and geography — bulky, low-value-per-pound product favors regional scale.

6. What drives demand

• Plastic-to-paper substitution — state single-use-plastic-bag bans and anti-plastic sentiment are a structural tailwind.[16]
• Labels and pressure-sensitive materials — every label rides on a release liner; a defensive, GDP-plus grower.[9]
• E-commerce — paper mailers, void fill, and shipping labels; e-commerce reached 16.9% of U.S. retail sales in Q1 2026, growing 9.8% year over year.[5][19]
• Food service and takeout — quick-service restaurants and delivery drive grease-resistant coated papers and bags; food away from home reached a record 58.9% of U.S. food expenditures in 2024.[18]
• Industrial and agricultural end-markets — multiwall sacks for cement, chemicals, flour, seed, and pet food; AF&PA reported June 2026 shipments of unbleached bag-and-sack paper up nearly 15% year over year.[20]

7. Regulation

Regulation is, on balance, a demand tailwind (paper over plastic) paired with a compliance cost:

• Food-contact safety (FDA). In February 2024 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) used as grease-proofing agents in food packaging were no longer sold for food-contact use; in January 2025 FDA determined that 35 related food-contact notifications were no longer effective — forcing converters to reformulate barrier coatings.[17][21]
• State PFAS bans, bag bans, and recycled-content rules raise cost but also boost paper demand and reward PFAS-free capability.[16][22]
• Extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws make producers pay for packaging end-of-life — a rising cost that favors larger operators; California's SB 54 requires covered packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032.[22][23]
• Coating operations also fall under Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air/water and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules.

8. Competitive dynamics and consolidation

Nationally the level is fragmented and unconcentrated: the top four firms hold about 22.7% of revenue, the top eight about 32.9%, the top 20 about 51.3%, and the top 50 about 71.9%; the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI, a standard concentration gauge where anything below ~1,500 is "unconcentrated") is just 221.[2] But specific niches are tighter — the Paper Shipping Sack Manufacturers' Association reports its members make approximately 90% of U.S. multiwall shipping sacks, a market with more than $1 billion in annual sales, and USITC identified just two major domestic shopping-bag producers (ProAmpac and Novolex).[6][14]

Import pressure. Imports of paper shopping bags from countries covered by USITC investigations rose 78.5% between 2020 and 2022. The U.S. subsequently imposed antidumping orders on paper shopping bags from Cambodia, China, Colombia, India, Malaysia, Portugal, Taiwan, and Vietnam, plus countervailing-duty orders on China and India — supporting domestic pricing but introducing tariff and administrative-review risk.[6][24]

The direction of travel is consolidation, much of it private-equity-led (Novolex + Pactiv, ~$6.7 billion, 2025, with CPP Investments contributing approximately $1 billion as a minority investor; Amcor + Berry Global, ~$8.4 billion, 2025; the 2022 SWM + Neenah merger that formed Mativ).[10][11][12][25]

9. Risks

• Input-cost and energy volatility — margins compress when pulp, kraft, and gas rise faster than contracts re-set.[7][8]
• Cyclicality — demand tracks consumer goods, industry, construction, and e-commerce.
• Substitution in both directions — paper is winning share from plastic, but recycled-plastic and reusables push back.
• Regulatory reformulation — PFAS bans and recycled-content mandates raise cost; laggards lose contracts.[16][17]
• Trade and imports — imports from China, Canada, and Mexico pressure commodity grades; AD/CVD orders create tariff and administrative-review risk.[5][24]
• Capital intensity and merger leverage — coating lines are expensive and several majors carry significant deal-related debt.[10][12]
• Labor — printing, coating, and bag-making lines require skilled personnel; turnover raises downtime and scrap.

10. How to invest and the outlook

Because this level is identical to 322220, the investment routes are the same. Public: no clean single-stock proxy — the most direct listed exposure is Mativ (MATV, small-cap, turnaround-sensitive); broader, diversified exposure comes through Sonoco, Amcor, Avery Dennison, International Paper, and Packaging Corp., judged on standard packaging metrics (volume growth, EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — margins, free cash flow, leverage, dividends).[12][13] Private: because so much of the concentrated pure exposure is private (Novolex/Pactiv, ProAmpac, Loparex, Ahlstrom, Twin Rivers), the most direct ways to own the core are private equity, direct roll-ups of regional converters, or private credit into packaging deals, typically at mid-to-high-single-digit EBITDA multiples.[10][15]

Bottom line. A defensive, steadily growing converting industry riding real secular tailwinds (anti-plastic regulation, labels, e-commerce, takeout), but with genuinely cyclical margins tied to fiber and energy costs — best returns cluster in specialty niches and in private, consolidating platforms. For the full company map, margin mechanics, and regulatory detail, see the child primer, NAICS 322220.

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Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 322220 (establishments, employment, annual payroll). 2023 (accessed via Histometrics federal-statistics dataset). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
2. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census — Concentration Ratios and Selected Statistics, NAICS 322220 (value of shipments/receipts, firms, CR4/CR8/CR20/CR50, HHI). 2022. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census.html
3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table B-1b: Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail, seasonally adjusted (NAICS 32222 employment). 2026. https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/ceseeb1b.htm
4. U.S. Census Bureau / NAICS Association, NAICS 2022 — Code 322220 definition and cross-references (322120/322130, 32221, 326111/326112, 322299). 2022. https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=322220
5. IBISWorld, NAICS Code 322220 — Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing (industry definition, trends, trade). 2024. https://www.ibisworld.com/classifications/naics/322220/paper-bag-and-coated-and-treated-paper-manufacturing/
6. U.S. International Trade Commission, Paper Shopping Bags from Cambodia, China, Colombia, India, Malaysia, Portugal, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam (Investigation Nos. 701-TA-688-689 and 731-TA-1604-1612, Pub. 5448). 2023. https://www.usitc.gov/sites/default/files/publications/701_731/pub5448.pdf
7. IMARC Group, Kraft Paper Price Trend, Index, Chart & Forecast (2025 prices ~$850–990/MT). 2025. https://www.imarcgroup.com/kraft-paper-price-trend
8. Pactiv Evergreen Inc., Form 10-K for fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 (~3 month pass-through lag). 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1527508/000095017025026104/ptve-20241231.htm
9. Credence Research, United States Label Release Liner Market Size and Growth 2032. 2024. https://www.credenceresearch.com/report/united-states-label-release-liner-market
10. Packaging Dive, Novolex completes $6.7B acquisition of Pactiv Evergreen. 2025. https://www.packagingdive.com/news/novolex-closes-acquisition-pactiv-evergreen/744049/
11. Pactiv Evergreen Inc., Form 8-K: Novolex transaction announcement (CPP Investments ~$1B minority stake, $6.7B transaction value). 2024. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1527508/000095017024134341/ptve-ex99_1.htm
12. Amcor plc, Amcor completes combination with Berry Global and Form 10-K FY2025 (~$23B combined sales; ~$10.4B consideration; closed April 30, 2025). 2025. https://www.amcor.com/media/news/amcor-completes-combination-with-berry-global
13. Mativ Holdings, Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results (FY2024 sales $1,981.1M; liners/coated papers). 2025. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250219525909/en/Mativ-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2024-Results
14. Paper Shipping Sack Manufacturers' Association, About PSSMA / Membership (~90% of U.S. multiwall shipping sacks, >$1B market). 2026. https://www.pssma.org/membership/
15. ProAmpac, Global Reach (11,000+ employees, 80+ manufacturing centers, 7,500+ customers). 2026. https://www.proampac.com/en-us/global-reach/
16. Packaging Dive, Packaging laws taking effect in 2024 — PFAS, plastic bag bans, recycled content. 2024. https://www.packagingdive.com/news/packaging-laws-2024-pfas-plastic-bag-ban-recycled-content/703285/
17. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Authorized Uses of PFAS in Food Contact Applications (Feb 2024 grease-proofing phase-out). 2024–2025. https://www.fda.gov/food/process-contaminants-food/authorized-uses-pfas-food-contact-applications
18. USDA Economic Research Service, Food Service Industry — Market Segments (food away from home 58.9% of expenditures, 2024). 2025. https://ers.usda.gov/topics/food-markets-prices/food-service-industry/market-segments
19. U.S. Census Bureau, Quarterly E-Commerce Report, Q1 2026 (16.9% of retail, +9.8% YoY). 2026. https://www.census.gov/retail/eCommerce.html
20. American Forest & Paper Association, AF&PA Releases June 2026 Packaging Papers Monthly Report (bag-and-sack paper +15% YoY). 2026. https://www.afandpa.org/news/2026/afpa-releases-june-2026-packaging-papers-monthly-report
21. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Market Phase-Out of Grease-Proofing Substances Containing PFAS (35 food-contact notifications no longer effective, Jan 2025). 2025. https://www.fda.gov/food/process-contaminants-food/market-phase-out-grease-proofing-substances-containing-pfas
22. Packaging Dive, Packaging laws taking effect in 2026 — bags, foam, PFAS, EPR. 2025. https://www.packagingdive.com/news/state-packaging-laws-2026-bags-foam-pfas-hotels/808682/
23. CalRecycle, Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (SB 54) (recyclable/compostable by 2032). 2026. https://calrecycle.ca.gov/packaging/packaging-epr/
24. U.S. International Trade Commission, Paper Shopping Bags from Cambodia et al. — Final Determination (AD/CVD orders). 2024. https://www.usitc.gov/publications/701_731/pub5522.pdf
25. Mativ (formerly SWM/Neenah), SWM and Neenah Complete Merger to Become Mativ (July 6, 2022). 2022. https://ir.mativ.com/news/news-details/2022/SWM-and-Neenah-Complete-Merger-to-Become-Mativ-a-3-Billion-Global-Leader-in-Specialty-Materials/default.aspx