“For packaged drinks things are slightly different, with consumers reducing their purchases of superfluous products if incomes are uncertain,” a Visiongain spokeswoman told FoodProductionDaily.com.
However, the report noted emerging food and drink packaging markets are non-saturated, and as incomes of emerging market consumers increase, demand for packaged food and drinks is likely to increase.
Material outlook
The report analyses six food and drink packaging material submarkets in global terms – rigid plastic, paper/board, metal, flexible plastic, glass and other.
The report said “The recent scares over migrating printing inks in recycled paper packaging and worries over the effects of BPA in plastic and metal packaging have worried some consumers and packaging producers must take this into account when developing their products.”
Environmental awareness, the demand for eco-friendly products and increased focus on sustainable production and increasingly busy lifestyles were other factors identified.
The spokeswoman said rigid and flexible plastic are the fastest-growing segments with rigid the most dominant in terms of market share.
“Their growth is mainly due to the fast-growing emerging and developing economies.
“Plastic packaging is easiest to manufacture and cheapest in terms of materials, production and transport costs, explaining its popularity in countries where the consumers are still highly price-sensitive.”
Rigid plastic demand
Emerging market demand for rigid plastic in convenience foods (e.g. processed foods and drinks, ready to eat meals) in developed markets was identified as a main driver for growth.
The forecast identified the strongest growth in emerging Asia, weakest growth in the mature markets of Europe.
“The increased income per capita levels in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America is enabling higher demand for packaged food and drinks in the regions,” said the spokeswoman.
The report identified Crown Holdings, Rexam, Tetra Pak International, Toyo Seikan Kaisha and Verallia as the top five companies.
