The United Nations purchases goods and services for its offices and activities worldwide via tenders. The United Nations Annual Statistical Report 2023 contains a detailed overview of the products and services purchased by 41 UN organizations. The procurement volume amounted to around 25 billion US dollars in 2023. The largest purchasing volumes were accounted for by the children's aid organization UNICEF (5.2 billion US dollars), the World Food Programme – WFP (4.5 billion US dollars) and the UN General Secretariat (UN Procurement Division), which also makes purchases for the UN Blue Helmet missions (3 billion US dollars).
Potential for the German Packaging Industry
N’s increasing procurement volume offers German companies in the packaging industry good business opportunities. However, the potential of German companies is far from exhausted: in 2022, Germany ranked 19th among the UN’s supplier countries with an order volume of 372.07 million dollars. FACHPACK provided a special opportunity for FACHPACK exhibitors and trade visitors to find out about business opportunities with the UN at the trade fair. The German-Danish Chamber of Commerce organized an information seminar on Tuesday.
Packaging in Extreme Climatic Conditions
Marie-Chantal Maile began by explaining the steps involved in registering for contact and submitting a tender. She also emphasized that the United Nations expects all business partners to respect values such as human rights and environmental protection. Representatives of the UN procurement staff then reported on the types of packaging required by the United Nations.
Ingrid Deander from the Logistics Division explained that the transportation of UN goods has to tackle major logistical challenges. A lot of repackaging takes place because large parcel loads are also transported by sea and smaller units have to be distributed in the individual regions at the end. This also means that packaging has to withstand extreme weather conditions, such as high humidity and room temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius. The UN requires standard packaging, individual packaging, and special packaging for foodstuffs. However, electronics and office supplies are also among the product groups that UN buyers have on their list – sustainable packaging is also required for these.
UN Experts at B2B Talks
The international UN buyers, several of whom came from Italy, took the opportunity to hold one-on-one discussions with interested German companies – with the aim of establishing new business partnerships. They also came to FACHPACK to find out more about sustainable packaging – because Europe's largest trade fair is an important source of new developments for them too.
