As per Freedonia, world demand for pharmaceutical packaging products will increase 6.4% pa to US$90 bln in 2017. Because of advanced and diverse drug producing industries, almost 65% of global demand will exist in the developed economies of Canada, Japan, the US and Western Europe. India and China will form the fastest growing markets due to rapidly expanding pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities and the adoption of more stringent regulations aimed at improving the quality and integrity of domestically produced medicines. Turkey, Mexico and Brazil are among other developing countries that are expected to expand and diversify drug producing industries and register above average gains in pharmaceutical packaging product demand. Over the long term, the US will continue to form the largest national pharmaceutical packaging product market as its advanced drug producing sector commercializes new sophisticated therapies with specialized packaging needs. Demand in Western Europe will remain comparatively high and expand steadily due to the impact of new product introductions and upgraded government standards covering unit dose, high barrier and anti-counterfeit packaging of many types of medicines. Based on broad contingents of proprietary and generic drug producers, Canada and Japan will continue to be large, diverse consumers of pharmaceutical packaging products. However, both countries will see below average growth in demand as drug makers pursue greater packaging efficiencies to offset medication pricing pressures. Global demand for primary pharmaceutical containers will expand 6.6% pa to more than US$57 bln in 2017. Prefillable syringes and parenteral vials will lead growth as new injectable therapies developed through biotechnology and related methods are introduced into the marketplace. Based on uses in the bulk and prescription dose packaging of oral ethical drugs and the large quantity packaging of solid dose oral over-the-counter medicines, plastic bottles will continue to record the largest demand globally among primary pharmaceutical containers, or US$20.6 bln in 2017. Blister packaging will comprise the second largest selling group of these containers based on its adaptability to unit dose and clinical trial dosage formats with expanded label content, high visibility, and built-in track and trace features.

As per Marketsandmarkets, the global pharmaceutical packaging market is dominated by North America, Europe and Japan accounting for more than 70% of the overall market in 2012. Within the North America, USA will remain the largest consumer of pharmaceutical packaging. Country wise, USA is the top most consumer of pharmaceutical product globally and is also the largest market for pharmaceutical packaging products growing at a CAGR lower than the global average till 2018. As the advanced drug producing sector in U.S. introduces new sophisticated therapies with specialized packaging needs, the demand for pharmaceutical packaging products continues to increase. Member countries of EU- Germany, U.K., France, Spain, and Italy are the key markets in European pharmaceutical packaging market and constitute majority of the market size. Japan is the second biggest pharmaceuticals consumer in the world and also the largest pharmaceutical packaging market within Asia-Pacific. In terms of growth rate, Asia-Pacific region is expected to register double digit CAGR from 2013 to 2018 and is estimated to nose ahead North America and European pharmaceutical packaging market by 2018. Brazilian pharmaceutical packaging market is the largest in the rest of the world. Plastic bottles and blister packs are the topmost packaging segments by revenue and plastics and polymers dominate as the key raw material in the pharmaceutical packaging market. While plastic bottles & blister packs take topmost positions in the pharmaceutical packaging market with more than 35.8% share by value; maximum growth in the near future is expected to come from pre-fillable syringes & inhalers, medication tubes, vials, labels and accessories. Plastics and polymers are the largest consumed raw material for the pharmaceutical packaging products and are fast replacing other raw materials such as glass and metals due to its ease in design, excellent barriers properties, and cost-effectiveness. Paper and paperboards constitute a fifth of the raw material market in terms of volume.