Closure push opens up beverage pack potential

08-Apr-2009 - Last updated on 09-Apr-2009 at 13:07 GMT

A new report suggests shifting consumer demand for resealable packaging, reflecting environmental concerns and rising income levels, is boosting global sales of growth for caps and closures, particularly in beverages.

Driven mainly by ongoing development in beverage packs, analyst Freedonia found that the market for closures and caps will increase in value to $36.5bn (€27.4bn) by 2013.

“Continuing urbanisation and rising personal incomes in the developing world will support expansion of consumer nondurable goods markets, with closures and other packaging materials among the primary beneficiaries,” stated the analyst.

Freedonia said it predicts that, in this push towards products that can be closed and reopened on the go, drink makers were likely to be most affected by developments.

Bev impacts

The report expects more traditional single use containers such as metal cans will increasingly lose out to options like closure-intensive plastic packaging already gaining market share.

Caps and closures derived from plastic, which the analyst says are already leading the segment, are expected to see the strongest gains in the coming years by expanding applications to replace products like metal closures used on glass containers.

“Moreover, gains will be helped by further expansion of synthetic corks in the wine market at the expense of natural corks,” stated the report. “Metal cap and closure demand will register weaker gains, posting outright declines in most developed markets.”

The analyst added that market growth still faced challenges from packaging formats that do not have closures such as stand up pouches and blister packs, as well as in overcoming environmental criticisms of material waste.

In terms of overall global growth in the closures segment, Asia and particularly the Chinese market were picked byFreedonia as leading the way in closure pack development. Chinese demand for caps and closures is expected to amount for 30 per cent of unit sales in 2012.

“The US, which accounted for one-fourth of 2007 global cap and closure value demand, will see strong value gains, fuelled by a continued shift in the product mix toward value-added configurations,” stated the analyst. “Western Europe and Japan will see slower growth, hindered by mature markets and stagnant population growth.”