DVANCES will be stimulated by an expanding population base, rising disposable personal income levels, smaller household sizes, consumer demands for more convenient prepared foods, and trends toward value-added packaging, accentuated by high impact graphics and increased barrier properties.
Unit expansion will be aided by the growing popularity of singleserving packaging, such as plastic cups and pouches, with such formats increasingly meeting consumer demand for food offering convenience and portability.
These and other trends are presented in Food Containers: Rigid & Flexible, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industrial market research firm.
Plastic containers, and bags and pouches will log the fastest growth among major food container types, often supplanting paperboard, metal and glass containers.
Advances will be attributable to performance advantages over competitive materials, as well as improved resin and processing technologies.
Plastic container demand will be propelled by improved heat resistance and barrier properties as well as advances in panel-less PET hot-fill bottle construction, which enhances container aesthetics and achieves an appearance more like glass bottles.
Demand for bags and pouches will be driven by continued rapid growth for standup pouches, based on advantages of excellent visual appeal, product differentiation, convenience, portability, reclosability and freshness protection.
Bag demand will increase more slowly due to maturity in many applications as well as competition from pouches.
Paperboard food container demand will increase at a slower pace, with further growth threatened by competition from plastic alternatives.