Sonoco
Sonoco is a diversified global packaging company serving consumer, industrial, protective-packaging, and packaging-services markets.
Last updated October 25, 2026
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Overview
Sonoco Products Company is a United States-based packaging manufacturer and packaging-services provider headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina. The company traces its corporate origins to the Southern Novelty Company, established by Major James Lide Coker in 1899, and adopted the Sonoco name in 1923. From its early focus on fiber-based containers, the business developed into a diversified packaging group with activities spanning rigid paperboard, flexible and plastic packaging, industrial converted products, protective packaging, recycling, retail displays, and packaging supply-chain services. Sonoco is especially associated with composite cans, tubes, and cores. It is described as the world's largest producer of composite cans, tubes, and cores, while also operating in paperboard containers, closures, thermoformed and blow-molded plastics, engineered molded and extruded plastics, and protective formats designed for retail, transport, temperature assurance, and product security. The company's Sonotube brand is used for fiber-based concrete forms and columns, while its industrial businesses supply tubes, cores, reels, and related materials for sectors such as wire and cable manufacturing. The company organizes its activities across several broad operating areas. Consumer packaging includes global rigid paper and closures, flexible packaging, and plastics. Global Services provides retail displays and packaging supply-chain management. Industrial Converted Products manufactures tubes, cores, reels, and uncoated recycled paperboard, and includes Sonoco Recycling. Protective Packaging develops customized protective, temperature-controlled, and retail-security packaging for commercial and consumer applications. This portfolio gives Sonoco exposure to food, beverage, household, personal-care, industrial, construction, electronics, healthcare, and logistics-related packaging demand. Sonoco has built an international operating network through organic expansion and acquisitions. The reference material describes approximately 19,900 employees, more than 335 operations in 33 countries, and customers in more than 85 countries. It also notes that the company is the largest company in South Carolina by sales and mentions that Sonoco is included in the New York Stock Exchange Centennial Index and the S&P 400. In the cited reference material, annualized net sales are approximately $7.3 billion, although the period for that figure is not stated there. Recycling and sustainability have been recurring elements of Sonoco's corporate positioning. Sonoco Recycling collects and processes about three million tons of recovered corrugated containers, paper, metals, and plastics annually and provides recycling programs for large United States consumer-products companies. The company received recognition in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index in 2011 and 2012, SAM Gold Class status in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and appeared in corporate-responsibility and environmental rankings cited in the reference material. Leadership has included members of the Coker family as well as executives recruited from the broader packaging industry. Charles W. Coker served as president and chief executive officer for a lengthy period and later as chairman. Harris E. DeLoach Jr., M. Jack Sanders, Rob C. Tiede, and R. Howard Coker subsequently held senior leadership roles. In 2023, Sonoco completed the $330 million acquisition of RTS Packaging from WestRock, expanding its packaging portfolio. In December 2024, Sonoco entered an agreement to sell its Thermoformed Flexible Packaging business to TOPPAN Holdings for approximately $1.8 billion, indicating a portfolio-shaping strategy and continued investment in selected packaging activities.
History
Sonoco's history began in Hartsville, South Carolina, where Major James Lide Coker established the Southern Novelty Company in 1899. The early business developed products from paper and related materials, establishing the foundation for a company that would increasingly specialize in industrial and consumer packaging. The company changed its name to Sonoco in 1923, a shorter identity that became associated with its expanding portfolio of paperboard containers and converted-fiber products. During the twentieth century, Sonoco expanded beyond its original regional base by developing and manufacturing composite containers, tubes, cores, and other converted-paper products. These formats served industrial customers as well as consumer-product companies. Tubes and cores became important inputs for paper, film, textile, wire, cable, and other manufacturing processes, while composite cans and rigid paperboard containers gave the company a presence in food, beverage, household, and personal-care packaging. The company later broadened its materials and technology base. Its operations came to include plastic containers, thermoformed packaging, closures, engineered molded and extruded products, flexible packaging, protective packaging, retail displays, and packaging supply-chain services. Sonotube fiber-based concrete forms became a recognizable offering in the construction sector. The combination of fiber, paperboard, plastic, and service capabilities allowed Sonoco to serve customers that needed both standardized packaging components and engineered solutions tailored to specific products or distribution conditions. International expansion produced a large operating network. The reference material describes more than 335 operations in 33 countries, approximately 19,900 employees, and service to customers in more than 85 nations. Sonoco's industrial businesses also developed a substantial recovered-materials platform. Sonoco Recycling collects paper, corrugated containers, metals, and plastics, while the company manufactures uncoated recycled paperboard for internal packaging operations and external converters. Recycling therefore became connected to both the company's sustainability narrative and its manufacturing supply chain. Sonoco's corporate leadership included a lengthy period under Charles W. Coker, who served as president and chief executive officer from 1970 to 1998 and chairman from 1976 to 2005. Later leadership included Harris E. DeLoach Jr., M. Jack Sanders, Rob C. Tiede, and R. Howard Coker. These transitions occurred as Sonoco continued to balance organic manufacturing capabilities with acquisitions, portfolio management, and international packaging demand. The company received several sustainability and corporate-responsibility distinctions in the early 2010s. The cited material identifies Sonoco as the top global packaging company in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index in 2011 and 2012, and records SAM Gold Class recognition in 2011, 2012, and 2013. It was also included in corporate-citizenship and environmental rankings during that period. These recognitions complemented the company's recycling activities and its emphasis on fiber-based and recovered-material packaging. In the 2020s, Sonoco continued to reshape its portfolio through transactions. It completed the $330 million acquisition of RTS Packaging from WestRock in September 2023. In December 2024, it entered an agreement to sell its Thermoformed Flexible Packaging business to TOPPAN Holdings for approximately $1.8 billion. Together, these actions suggest selective expansion in targeted packaging activities while divesting a business that no longer fit the company's preferred portfolio structure. Sonoco remains an active, publicly traded global packaging group headquartered in Hartsville and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
- 2024
Thermoformed Flexible Packaging sale announced
[1]Sonoco enters an agreement to sell its Thermoformed Flexible Packaging business to TOPPAN Holdings.
- 2023
RTS Packaging acquisition completed
[1]Sonoco completes its $330 million acquisition of RTS Packaging from WestRock.
- 2020
R. Howard Coker becomes chief executive officer
[1]R. Howard Coker is elected president and chief executive officer.
- 2018
Rob C. Tiede becomes chief executive officer
[1]Rob C. Tiede succeeds Sanders as president and chief executive officer.
- 2013
M. Jack Sanders becomes chief executive officer
[1]M. Jack Sanders begins his tenure as president and chief executive officer.
- 2011
Sustainability recognition in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index
[1]Sonoco is identified as the leading global packaging company in the cited sustainability index ranking.
- 1970
Charles W. Coker begins extended executive tenure
[1]Charles W. Coker becomes president and chief executive officer, beginning a long period of leadership.
- 1923
The company adopts the Sonoco name
[1]Southern Novelty Company changes its name to Sonoco as its packaging business develops.
- 1899
Southern Novelty Company is founded
[1]Major James Lide Coker establishes the company that later becomes Sonoco.
Products and positioning
A diversified, vertically integrated packaging partner combining fiber-based, plastic, flexible, protective, industrial, recycling, and packaging-services capabilities. Sonoco's positioning emphasizes broad materials expertise, global manufacturing scale, customized packaging engineering, and circularity through recovered-material processing.
Consumer packaging
Composite cans
Sonoco is identified as the world's largest producer of composite cans. These rigid fiber-based containers are used for packaged consumer goods and combine converted paperboard with other materials or components to provide structural strength and product protection.
Industrial converted products
Tubes and cores
Tubes and cores are among Sonoco's signature industrial products. They support winding, handling, storage, and transportation of paper, film, foil, textiles, wire, cable, and other flexible or elongated materials. Sonoco manufactures these products for industrial customers across multiple regions.
Construction products
Sonotube concrete forms
Sonotube is Sonoco's brand of fiber-based concrete forms and columns. The forms are used in construction to shape poured concrete for foundations, columns, and related structural applications, extending Sonoco's packaging-material expertise into the construction-products market.
Consumer packaging
Rigid paperboard containers and closures
Sonoco manufactures rigid paperboard containers and convenience closures for consumer products. The business forms part of its Global Rigid Paper and Closures operations and serves product categories requiring recognizable, stackable, protective, and convenient packaging formats.
Consumer packaging
Flexible and plastic packaging
The company's consumer packaging portfolio includes flexible packaging, blow-molded plastic containers, thermoformed plastic packaging, and engineered molded or extruded plastic products. These formats address varied requirements for barrier performance, shape, dispensing, protection, and retail presentation.
Protective packaging
Protective packaging
Sonoco's Protective Packaging division develops customized solutions for cushioning, product protection, temperature assurance, and retail security. Its products are engineered around the handling and distribution risks of specific goods rather than limited to one standard packaging format.
Industrial materials
Recycled paperboard
Sonoco manufactures uncoated recycled paperboard for its own fiber-based packaging divisions and for outside converters. This activity connects the company's recycling operations with the production of packaging substrates and supports its broader recovered-materials strategy.
Brand decisions
2024
Agreement to sell Thermoformed Flexible PackagingM&ABackground
Sonoco announced a portfolio transaction involving its Thermoformed Flexible Packaging business.
Action taken
In December 2024, Sonoco entered an agreement to sell the business to TOPPAN Holdings for approximately $1.8 billion.
Aftermath
The announced divestiture represented a significant reshaping of Sonoco's flexible-packaging portfolio; the cited material does not provide further completion details.
Announced transaction value. Approximately $1.8 billion (December 2024)
2023
Acquisition of RTS PackagingM&ABackground
Sonoco pursued the acquisition of RTS Packaging, a United States packaging company held by WestRock, as part of its expansion in packaging.
Action taken
Sonoco completed the transaction for $330 million in September 2023.
Aftermath
The acquisition expanded Sonoco's portfolio of packaging operations in the United States.
Acquisition price. $330 million (September 2023)
Recent events
Reported
Sonoco Products Company presents 2026 Q3 results[2]
Sonoco Products Company published a 2026 Q3 results earnings call presentation.
Sonoco announces recycled paperboard price increase[3]
Sonoco announced a $50-per-ton price increase for all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard in the United States and Canada, effective for shipments beginning May 13, 2020.
Reported
Sonoco completes acquisition of TEQ and Plastique Holdings[4]
Sonoco completed its $187 million acquisition of Thermoform Engineered Quality (TEQ), including UK-based Plastique Holdings.
Sources4 sources
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