UFlex’s Asepto bets on Egypt to build global aseptic packaging hub

Noida based flexible packaging major UFlex’s aseptic liquid packaging business, Asepto is shifting from an India-led export model to a multi-location global manufacturing strategy, with its new $126-million plant in Egypt expected to become a key production hub for markets across Europe, Africa, the Gulf, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Americas.

The 30-acre greenfield facility at Ain Sokhna, located close to the Suez Canal, is currently undergoing customer trials and is expected to begin commercial production by the end of calendar 2026. Once operational, it will add 12 billion aseptic packs a year to Asepto’s capacity, taking its combined India and Egypt capacity to 24 billion packs annually.

“We have become a multi-location, global, strong global aseptic packaging powerhouse,” said Ashwani Kumar Sharma, President and CEO of UFlex’s liquid packaging business, during a media interaction at the facility.


Asepto currently has a 12-billion-pack annual capacity at its Sanand facility in Gujarat and exports around 35-40% of its Indian production. The business, which started in 2017, now serves more than 50 countries and has over 250 customers worldwide, Sharma said.

The Egypt (Ain Sokhna) facility, Sharma said, will complement the India operation rather than replace it, with manufacturing increasingly located closer to customers in key international markets.

Why Egypt

For Sharma, the primary attraction of Egypt is its combination of geography and trade access. “Egypt has a very strategic location, giving it a competitive edge over several other locations,” he said.

From Ain Sokhna, Asepto expects to serve GCC markets in roughly 2-10 days by road, while Europe can be reached in around 5-10 days and CIS markets in about 10 days. Africa can be served in approximately 5-30 days depending on the destination, while North and Latin America are around 30 days away, according to the Noida headquartered company.

The plant is also located around 10-15 km from the Sokhna port, giving Asepto access to the Suez Canal and international shipping routes.

Sharma added that the combination of geographical proximity and Egypt’s trade arrangements was a major factor behind the investment. “We also have a very meaningful trade advantage, tariff advantage,” he said.

Asepto expects to leverage duty-free or preferential access to several markets, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Europe, along with trade arrangements covering African markets. The company has also cited Egypt’s agreements with markets covered by arrangements such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA), African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Agadir Agreement and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

For Asepto, the rationale is therefore not simply about supplying the Egyptian market. It is about using Egypt as an export platform. “Today, our strategic shift has changed,” Sharma said. “We have become a multi-location, global, strong global aseptic packaging powerhouse.”

Customer trials before commercial production

The company says its Ain Sokhna facility has already moved beyond basic machinery commissioning, with customer trials now underway.

Aseptic packaging requires extensive testing because the packaging is designed to preserve liquid products over long periods. Customers test the packs through different stages of the product lifecycle, including transportation and storage.

Sharma said the plant went through a step-by-step commissioning process before customer trials began. “First, you check the machines piece by piece,” he said. This is followed by dry runs, trials with paper, and progressive fine-tuning of the equipment.

“All the machines today are running at optimum speed,” Sharma said, adding that the time has come to take trials at the customer end. Customer trials began around two months before the media visit, he added.

The company’s planned utilisation curve is equally gradual. The Egypt plant is expected to operate at about 30% utilisation during its first year, rising to 60-70% in the second year and reaching full utilisation in the third year, around 2029-30. The investment is expected to total $126 million, with more than $100 million already spent, he said.

Focus on higher automation

One of the distinguishing features of the Egypt plant is the degree of automation built into the operation. Asepto’s India plant is spread across 72 acres, while the Egypt operation occupies 30 acres despite having the same 12-billion-pack annual capacity.

Sharma attributed the difference largely to advances in machinery and automation since the India facility was commissioned.

Asepto has installed two next-generation Heidelberg Boardmaster printing lines at Ain Sokhna. The machines have a width of 1,650 mm and can operate at speeds of up to 600 metres per minute.

The facility also houses an SML extrusion line from Austria and two high-speed slitters from Italy-based IMS. The production process integrates printing, extrusion lamination, slitting, inspection, material handling and final packaging into a highly automated workflow.

A major focus is reducing downtime and waste during job changes. “Typically, when you change from job one to job two, you have to stop the line, change the plate and restart the line,” Sharma said. According to him, such a changeover can traditionally take 45 minutes to an hour. The newer printing technology installed at Egypt allows job changes at high operating speeds, significantly improving productivity and reducing wastage.

The facility also has automated finishing and packaging systems. Finished reels are automatically moved through the process, individually shrink-wrapped and tracked using barcodes and QR codes. Sharma said the system can identify which reel belongs to which pallet and customer, with the data directly feeding into the company’s enterprise systems.

Building an end-to-end packaging business

Asepto is positioning itself as more than a manufacturer of aseptic packaging material. The business provides packaging materials as well as filling machines and technical support.

It has two categories of filling machines, with capacities of around 10,000 packs per hour and 25,000 packs per hour. Sharma said Asepto also has more than 100 engineers across different markets providing technical support to customers.

The company is also developing its own design capabilities through an in-house design shop, where its creative team works with brand owners to develop packaging that can differentiate products on retail shelves.

Another area of differentiation is Asepto’s use of holographic packaging and foil stamping. Sharma said the company drew on UFlex’s existing expertise in holography and security packaging to introduce these technologies into aseptic cartons. The objective is not only aesthetic differentiation but also anti-counterfeiting.

UFlex ecosystem's global advantage

Asepto’s expansion is backed by the wider manufacturing and customer ecosystem of UFlex. The company reported revenue of around $1.63 billion for the year ended March 31 and has a global workforce of more than 16,000 employees, Sharma said.

The group manufactures packaging films and laminates and has a combined packaging-material capacity of more than 1.4 million tonnes. It exports its products to around 150 countries and has more than 5,000 customers globally, according to Sharma.

Its manufacturing footprint includes the US, Mexico, the CIS, Poland, Hungary, Egypt, Nigeria, UAE and India. For Asepto, this provides an existing network of customers and relationships across geographies.

“We are not only a laminate or packaging material supplier or manufacturer and supplier. We are an end-to-end packaging solution company focusing on liquid packaging and that too aseptic liquid packaging,” Sharma said.

The company’s aseptic business has also expanded into paper-based straws, with a 200-million-unit capacity in India, while its broader service offering includes machine installation and technical support.

Sustainability becomes a technology challenge

The next leg of Asepto’s expansion is also likely to be shaped by sustainability.

The company is working on technologies to recover the different components of used aseptic packaging, including paper, aluminium and polymers. Its enzymatic delamination technology is designed to separate the layers so that paper fibre can be recovered and used in applications such as moulded pulp products or sent to paper mills. The polymer and aluminium components can also be converted into composite materials.

The company is additionally working on technologies to convert poly-aluminium waste back into resin and subsequently film for use in flexible packaging. The broader objective is to move towards a circular packaging model while retaining the functional advantages of aseptic packaging.

For Sharma, however, sustainability cannot be separated from economics. As he sees it, the technology has to work at commercial scale, without compromising packaging performance or making the product unaffordable. This approach also reflects Asepto’s broader positioning: combining packaging materials, machinery, design, engineering and recycling rather than treating each as a standalone business.

A hedge against global supply-chain risks

The Egypt facility also gives Asepto greater flexibility in dealing with geopolitical and supply-chain disruptions.

Instead of relying mainly on India for international customers, the company will have a second large-scale manufacturing base strategically located between several major markets. The company believes this approach could enable it to balance production between India and Egypt-based on freight costs, tariffs, customer needs, and geopolitical changes.

Asepto’s India operation has already established the business internationally, with exports accounting for 35-40% of production. Egypt now gives it a platform to build a more geographically distributed manufacturing model.

For Sharma, the investment therefore represents more than a capacity addition. It is a change in the way Asepto intends to compete globally — from exporting out of India to manufacturing closer to customers.

The immediate milestone is commercial production at Ain Sokhna by the end of the year. Beyond that, the company expects utilisation to climb steadily towards full capacity by 2029-30. If this ramp-up goes according to plan, the Egypt plant will transform Asepto from an India-based aseptic packaging exporter into a multi-location global supplier with 24 billion packs of annual capacity.

The reporter was recently in Egypt at the invitation of UFlex.