[FuriouslyAdrift]

Because it made it possible for domestic production to increase.

[dalyons]

Of what? Other stuff? Or packing materials? Or

[FuriouslyAdrift]

Packaging is a support industry (other than stock boxes which are bulk manufacturerd for things like moving companies, etc).

So... the more companies making things or shipping things, the more boxes are needed. Financial and govt analysts use the packaging industry as kind of a canary for the general health of mnaufacturing and retail as it is on the end of the long tail for supply chains. Packaging is the first to decline and the last to pick up with the cycles of the economy.