Polyethylene terephthalate to continue growing in food and packaging industry despite price hikes

29-Apr-11

Polyethylene terephthalate will continue growing in the food and packaging industry, despite recent price hikes, as per as per Pira International as reported by Platts. Plastic bottles are the strongest performers in the larger packaging sector, PET is the most widely used and fastest-growing polymer for the manufacture of plastic bottles and jars. The market for rigid plastic packaging for food and drink in Europe is expected to achieve above average volume growth, 3.7% compared with 1.9% for the overall food and drink packaging sector overall for 2010-15. Pira said it expects PET bottles to continue replacing glass, aluminum and other materials in the food and drink industry, citing the clarity, durability, design flexibility, light weight and recyclability as advantages over other materials. But several converters have in the past few months warned their customers might switch to a different material due to price rises. The spot price of PET in Northwest Europe has risen steeply since last summer from Eur1085/mt (US$1592/mt) FD NWE on August 25 to a peak of Eur1620/mt on March 23.