Pack Expo show owner and organiser PMMI revealed its latest Global Trends Report at the opening of Pack Expo in Las Vegas yesterday.
At a media briefing PKN attended just before the show officially opened its doors on 28 September, PMMI's Business Intelligence division revealed its latest trends report compiled in collaboration with Euromonitor.
The three main trends were identified as affecting the global packaging market in every region are:
- Greater consumer awareness of health and wellness. Bottled water, yoghurt and sour milk drinks, and RTD tea have experienced large growth due to increased awareness of health and wellness.
- Stronger influence of recycling and environmental issues. Recyclable and reusable packaging within pack types like PET bottles and glass bottles will become large purchasing factors for global consumers.
- Increased disposable income and purchasing power in developing markets. As consumers have larger disposable incomes and greater purchasing power, premium packaging for products will become more visible in the market, especially metal beverage cans in alcoholic drinks.
Top consumers trends drive performance of top pack types
The growing middle class in many regions around the world, especially Asia Pacific and Latin America, is leading to larger disposable incomes.
In turn, more consumers are purchasing packaged goods from modern retail locations.
While the largest pack types, such as flexible plastic, will continue to see absolute volume growth, high forecast growth rates are expected for newer, non-traditional pack types like pouches.
Other macroeconomic and consumer behaviour trends are influencing factors in different regions, and these include the growth in urbanisation especially in developing regions; increased demand for convenience products; and the shift to smaller pack sizes.
Linked to these factors are growth in internet retailing, focused branding strategies and product premiumisation.
Globally, flexible plastic remains the dominant pack type, however, pack types such as brick liquid cartons and PET bottles will register the highest growth rates. Of the top 10 pack types, PET bottles will experience one of the largest forecast volume growth rates, with a CAGR of 4.7%.
Top consumer trends will drive performance of top pack types.
For example, the growing middle class in many regions around the world, especially Asia Pacific and Latin America, is leading to larger disposable incomes.
In turn, more consumers are purchasing packaged goods from modern retail locations.
While the largest pack types, such as flexible plastic, will continue to see absolute volume growth, high forecast growth rates are expected for newer, non-traditional pack types like pouches.
Bottled water is the leading category by forecast volume growth in three regions: Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America.
Bottled water is strong within PET bottles, accounting for 54% of the absolute volume growth for that pack type. Asia Pacific will account for 70% of global absolute volume growth in bottled water from 2014 - 2019.
Overall, the Asia Pacific region maintains a 46% volume share of total packaging market, with 2,091 billion units. With about 1,300 billion fewer packaging units, Western Europe is the second largest region with volume share of 18%.
