Western Europe was the only regional market to record declining volume sales of beer sold in glass bottles since 2003. This was partly due to pack-type changes in favor of PET bottles and partly due to less consumption of beer in countries such as Germany.
In the U.S., glass bottles have long been a popular choice for imported and national beers. Imports are usually marketed and priced as premium beer in the U.S. That, combined with the perception that beer sold in glass is of more premium quality, has increasingly led to a preference for glass bottles for premium imported beers. As premium beer is projected to see continued strong growth over the forecast period, 12-oz beer bottles should continue to see unit volume gains.
Another factor is that high oil prices at the end of the review period pushed PET resin prices up. Consequently, PET bottles became much more expensive, which in some countries (Mexico) led to more returnable glass bottles, to be more competitive in final prices. Due to international events, oil prices around the world are expected to grow more during the forecast period and keep PET prices high, which will benefit glass bottles.
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