Aug 31 2010
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/58dc6a/the_packaging_mate) has announced the addition of the "The Packaging Materials Future Outlook: Key Trends in New Materials, Lightweighting and Emerging Applications" report to their offering.
The global consumer packaging market is worth around US$400bn. The market has been relatively resilient in the face of economic ups and downs, but the current recession has taken its toll. 2009 saw a downturn in market value. This report pinpoints the reasons why, highlights consumer and industry trends and casts an informed and speculative eye on the future. There is no doubt that consumer goods and consumer packaging are now facts of modern life, but the market is evolving and it is only prudent to understand the drivers of change and to take this understanding into planning for the future.
The inexorable rise of plastic packaging has been the key market narrative, a rise driven by cost, convenience and the entirely natural desire to do ever more with ever less. Plastic, however, is made from petrochemicals and raw materials are becoming increasingly costly. More significant still, plastic has relatively poor environmental credentials and is profoundly disliked by consumers, particularly in the developed West. Nevertheless, the plastics sector continues to receive the lion's share of R&D into new technology, although bioplastics and nano-enhanced super packaging are both some way from being commercially viable. Paper-based packaging is still the largest sector and has very strong environmental credentials; improving paper's barrier properties is a crucial step in increasing its viability as a packaging material. Glass has an enviable reputation as a premium material and as a packaging medium out of which food and drink taste better; light weighting is helping make glass easier to handle and more cost-effective in production and distribution. The rise of the aluminium beverage can has helped sustain the metal packaging sector in other areas; metal is being developed through higher-quality graphics, new printing techniques and innovation in convenient closures.
This report assesses the relative weights of all these trends and sets the packaging market in its context: social, economic, environmental and cultural. It examines this complex and dynamic market organically, from the viewpoints of suppliers and end-users and looks in detail at regional drivers, as developing markets increasingly shape the future.
Key findings of this report
The consumer primary packaging market is worth around $400bn. Plastic packaging is the largest and best-performing sector. Paper-based packaging, however, remains the largest single segment, sustained by its naturalness, its recyclability, its versatility and its low cost. Metal and glass packaging are facing strong challenges from glass in their traditional strongholds.
The Asia-Pacific region is the largest consumer of packaging and its share continues to grow.
Demand for consumer packaging is tied into demand for consumer goods, itself subject to global economic trends. Food and beverages account for 70% of consumer packaging by end-use. Demand for convenience has helped drive growth in packaged foods. This is linked to changing lifestyles, greater affluence, less time.
Sustainability is becoming a market given and is reflected in packaging reduction, light weighting and in the application of new technologies to the market. Whilst plastic remains in the ascendancy, other sectors are fighting back. The future dominance of plastic is less a fact than its adherents would have the market believe.
Source: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/