Plastics in rigid food packaging to expand by 4.7% pa till 2013

24-Jul-08

Plastics used in rigid food packaging in the US market is expected to expand by 4.7% pa to £17.2 bln in 2013, as per a report by the US-based BCC Research. Rigid plastic food packaging includes bottles, dairy, meat and deli containers, prepared food trays and a large group of containers mostly made for liquid foods. The trend towards smaller, more portable beverage and prepared food containers will play a large part in the increased use of plastics in rigid food packaging in the US market. Demographic changes such as greater numbers of single-person households and older consumers are supporting the demand for more convenient prepared foods and single-serving portions, increasing material use as smaller portions tend to use more packaging relative to their size. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is the dominant resin used in this segment, reaching over £7bln in 2007 and forecast to increase to £9.5bln in 2013. At £2.5 bln, high density polyethylene (HDPE) is the resin with the second largest share of the food packaging market in 2007. HDPE is estimated to grow at 4.1%, and is forecast it to reach £3.2 bln in 2013. Polystyrene is expected to increase market share from an estimated £2 bln in 2007 to £2.4 bln in 2013 and polypropylene is also forecast to have annual growth of 6.6% to reach £1.6 bln in 2013. Bottles are the most dominant plastic rigid packaging structure, most of which are based on PET, followed by the wide array of mostly blow moulded containers for liquid foods led by PET and HDPE, concluded the report.