USA, Germany, Singapore, China, South Korea, India emerge as top growth regions in packaging industry

13-Oct-11

The top five growth regions in the packaging industry are USA, Germany, Singapore, China, South Korea and India. As per ICD Research, stringent regulations enforced by the US government over the food and beverage sector have forced packaging suppliers to invest in research and development (R&D). Meanwhile, the strong demand for packaging materials for disposable beverage bottles has driven the market in Germany. Furthermore, increased domestic and regional consumption, driven by strong economic growth, in the Asia-Pacific region has increased the demand for packaging in countries such as Singapore, while buyers and suppliers consider India and China to be the two most important markets for potential growth. Raw material prices, pricing pressures and cost containment are the most pressing immediate business concerns for the global packaging industry. This is largely due to recent volatility in the petroleum market, which has pushed up operational costs. Companies are therefore taking various measures to contain costs, including investment in sophisticated technologies such as robotics to increase efficiency. A manager of a packaging supplier company operating in the Asia-Pacific region states, "We are focusing on the increasing awareness among the general public of the advantages of paperboard as an alternate packaging material, both in terms of sustainability and reusability. This will help our clients to drastically reduce their operating costs." The average size of the global annual procurement budget for packaging buyer respondents is estimated at US$94 million for 2011. In particular, annual budgets in the range of US$1-US$10 million and US$50-US$500 million have increased substantially. At present, companies are looking to add value to their packaging as an effective strategy in today's highly competitive industry. ICD Research's industry survey revealed that, on average, buyer budgets are expected to rise by 9% over the next 12 months, while 55% of respondents expect their budget to increase by between 5% and 25%.