Global plastic container market is expected to grow more than 5% in the next 5 years. North America alone is poised to show over 4% growth. By 2010, USA alone will account for about 7 million tons of plastic container business.
Further advances will be limited by increasing
maturity in key markets like soft drinks and household
chemicals. Gains will be supported by numerous
inherent advantages of plastics relative to other
packaging products, including low cost, light
weight, design flexibility, shatter resistance,
strength, favourable barrier properties and clarity.
However, continuing efforts aimed at reducing
consumption through light-weighting or down-gauging
will restrain growth in volume of resin.
Although advances will be sustained by the popularity of smaller-sized beverage bottles, beverage container growth will slow from the 2000-2005 period due to the maturity of the soft drink segment. The food and pharmaceutical will provide above-average opportunities.
Smaller segments of the plastic container industry like cans, squeeze tubes and trays will record faster growth than bottles and jars. Cans will benefit from expanding applications like paint and coffee traditionally dominated by other packaging products, such as metal. Squeeze tube growth will be supported by increases in shipments of cosmetic and toiletry products. Advances in plastic trays will be aided by the increasing prevalence of case-ready meats in many retail channels.
By 2010, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) will gain more penetration than the dominant high density polyethylene (HDPE) for plastic containers due to robust growth in bottled water bottle and increasing usage in other applications like food and household chemicals. Nevertheless, HDPE will still account for more than 50% of total plastic container volume largely due to its low cost and entrenched position in many key markets, such as milk and large containers. PP will register the fastest growth because of increasing development of clarified grades and improved processing rates, making the resin more competitive with high-volume resins like PET.
