Down-sizing trend driving US rigid food packaging

Tag : blow moulded products
The category is expected to expand by 4.7 per cent a year to£17.2bn in 2013, said Rigid Food Packaging , published by the US-based BCC Research .

Researchers said that demographic changes such as greater numbersof single-person households and older consumers will support thedemand for more convenient prepared foods and single-servingportions, sometimes in multi-packs.

This will increase material use as smaller portions tend to usemore packaging relative to their size, the report states.

Rigid plastic food packaging includes bottles, dairy, meat and delicontainers, prepared food trays and a large group of containersmostly made for liquid foods.

PET is dominant

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is the dominant resin, accordingto the analysts, reaching over £7bn in 2007 and forecast toincrease to £9.5bn in 2013.

The resin with the second largest share of the food packagingmarket, at £2.5bn in 2007, is high density polyethylene(HDPE). The material has a predicted growth rate of 4.1 per cent,and is forecast it to hit the £3.2bn mark in 2013, accordingto the analysts.

Polystyrene is expected to increase market share from an estimated£2bn in 2007 to £2.4bn in 2013 and polypropylene is alsoforecast to experience annual growth of 6.6 per cent to reach£1.6bn in 2013, claims BCC Research.

"Bottles are, by far, the most dominant plastic rigid packaging structure , most of which are based on PET, followed bythe wide array of mostly blow moulded containers for liquid foodsled by PET and HDPE," concluded the report.

European market slows

Meanwhile, Finnish packaging firm, Huhtamaki , in its interim results released on Friday, said that demand forconsumer packaging in Europe is starting to show signs of a slowdown.

Its Interim Report, which reflects the six month period up to 30June 2008, showed improved earnings in the second quarter afterslow start to the year. The company said that the price increasesit implemented in the period managed to compensate for higher rawmaterial, energy and distribution costs.

In 2008, the Group EBIT is expected to be below the 2007 underlyingGroup EBIT of €136m, according to the company.

Consumer goods rigid plastic production is ceasing at Huhtamaki'sUK sites, with the facility at Portadown closing at the end of July2008 and in Gosport at the end of September 2008, according to thefinancial report. The company said that it is also closing itsrigid packaging site in Karlholmsbruk, Sweden by year-end 2008.

Andrew Lea, General Manager of Consumer Goods Huhtamaki UK,previously told FoodProductionDaily.com that the closure of thecompany's site in Portadown in Northern Ireland was the net resultof Huhtamaki's shift towards more recoverable and renewablepolymers like recycled PET.

The Portadown site had been primarily involved in the manufactureof thermoformed polypropylene thin wall food containers used forproducts like coleslaw and desserts.

Lea said that outmoded plant infrastructure, increases inmanufacturing and energy costs and a decline in volumes were thereasons for the withdrawal of its rigid plastic productionoperations from Gosport.