The market for flexible packaging is also expected to continue growing worldwide. Photo: Messe Düsseldorf, Constanze Tillmann

Upward Trend for Packaging Industry Worldwide

The joint committee of German packaging producers (Gemeinschaftsausschuss Deutscher Verpackungshersteller (GADV)) has now officially published the sector’s figures for last year. Altogether, it is a positive picture: According to experts these results can also be attributed to the number of single households which are rising across Germany as well as altered consumer buying behaviour. In 2015 the number of single households in Germany stood at over 41 per cent.

Identify Trends

Identifying trends and adapting to changed consumer requirements – two key factors for the success of the industry. The packaging industry has consistently done this and therefore succeeded in generating growth once again.

Consumers place more and more emphasis on sustainable and easy-to-use packaging – also for out-of-home consumption. As a response the industry has numerous innovative packaging solutions in store: Packaging with safe closures, flexible handling or easy portioning are just some of them. Add to this new aesthetic designs and formats.

The packaging market will continue to grow further on a global scale. Photo: Messe Düsseldorf, Constanze Tillmann

Facts and Figures

The following figures for 2016 were published by GADV – and juxtaposed with 2015 figures:

Packagin media production: production output rose by three per cent to approx. 19 million tons
- Packagin made of paper, cardboard and paperboard accounts for the lion's share at 46 per cent.

Packaging media sales: increased by 2,1 per cent to some EUR 32 billion
- Plastic packaging accounts for the highest share with 44 per cent.
- As in 2015 this is the highest increase, followed by plastic packaging with a 4.4% increase, by glass (+2.9 per cent) and packaging from paper, cardboard and paperboard (+1.3 per cent).

Graphic 1: Material shares in the global packaging market.
Source: GADV

By segments the production of steel-based metal packaging was up by 12.9 per cent. Paper, cardboard and paperboard registered a 3.3% increase while glass and plastics lagged only slightly behind with a growth of two and +1.1 percent, respectively.

Other countries, other figures

The global packaging market is estimated to total US$ 424 billion with an annual growth rate of some 3.5 per cent. Europe accounts for US$ 127 billion (30%), North America for US$ 118 billion (28%), Asia for US$ 114 (27%), Central America for US$ 30 billion (seven per cent) and other countries for US$ 30 billion (eight per cent).

Graphic 2: The global market for packaging by regions
Source: http://www.pdachain.com/2016/11/30/packaging-statistics-that-might-surprise-you/, diagram: Melanie Streich

By packaging materials and products, the ranking is as follows:

Paper/cardboard/paperboard: 36 per cent, plastics: 34 per cent, metal: 17 per cent, glass: 10 per cent, others: 3 per cent.

Food: 38 per cent (US$ 161 billion), beverages: 18 per cent (US$ 76 billion), pharmaceutical packaging: 5 per cent (US$ 21 billion), cosmetics: 3 per cent (US$ 13.3 billion), others: 36 per cent (US$ 153 billion).

Strong increase in threshold countries

The demand for packaging is rising disproportionately fast in threshold countries. The Brazilian Institute for Economy has also published current figures for the packaging industry in this South American country. Last year 6.6 per cent more paper packaging was produced more than in 2015, corresponding to an increase of Real 64.3 billion 1 EUR = 3.666 BRL). With just under 40 per cent, plastics account for the lion’s share, followed by corrugated cardboard, cardboard and paper as well as metal. A lower but non insignificant growth rate of five per cent is posted by the materials glass, textiles and wood.

The demand for packaging is particularly high in threshold countries. Photo: Messe Düsseldorf, Constanze Tillmann

Other results 2016

The global market for flexible packaging totalled US$ 104.527 billion in 2016. Over the coming five years it is expected to grow to US$ 138,680 billion, according to a study by Research and Markets company. While the Asia-Pacific region is still the market leader in flexible packaging, demand from such threshold countries as China and India, Brazil and Mexico is rising.

Thermo packaging reached US$ 36.4 billion. And this value, experts feel, will go up by more than US 20 billion.

Graphic 3: Material shares in the global packaging market
Source: http://www.pdachain.com/2016/11/30/packaging-statistics-that-might-surprise-you/, diagramm: Melanie Streich

Outlook

An outlook until 2020 is provided by the study “Worldwide Market for Print 2.0 – Packaging”. It forecasts a total global turnover of US$ 286 billion for this part of the packaging market. This would mean a growth of 18 per cent or US$ 44 billion compared to 2015. Here, too, the Asian-Pacific threshold countries are named as the principal cause for the rising demand.