Peru's ongoing economic recession has put a dent in sales of packaging for food products as a result of changing consumption habits. One important packaging company, Estampados Metalicos , was operating at 50% of capacity at the beginning of the year, but dropped to only 35% by November. Management blamed the decline, in part, on the fact that families tend to buy products in bulk packaging during difficult economic times. This reduces the number of packaging units sold. As long as packaging companies are operating well under capacity, they are not able to justify the purchase of new equipment, which does not bode well for the industry's competitiveness in the medium to long term.