The global consumption of PET packaging will grow to almost 19.1 million tonnes by 2017 predicts Smithers Pira in a new market study. Driven mainly by increasing demand in emerging and transitional economies, the market will grow 5.2% per annum with a focus on Asia Pacific, South and Central America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Barrier PET bottles and jars for juices, milk, teas, beer, wine, and food are forecast to register strong growth over the period 2012 to 2017.
“The Future of Global PET Packaging to 2017” provides a detailed analysis of PET packaging markets and technology trends for the period 2012 to 2017, with particular emphasis on the impact of the global economic downturn of 2008 to 2009 on the PET packaging market. It also presents volume and value data forecasts for PET packaging for the period 2012 to 2017 by end-use sector, and geographic markets. The study is based on a combination of primary and secondary data gathered during Pira's research program for the global packaging industry.
The developing countries of Asia Pacific, South America, and Central and Eastern Europe will show higher growth for PET packaging as a result of growing real incomes and the replacement of traditional pack formats by PET bottles. Asia Pacific overtook both North America and Western Europe during the period 2007 to 2012 to become the largest regional market for PET packaging. Asia Pacific accounts for a projected 29.4% of world PET packaging consumption in 2012, followed by North America with 24.1%, and Western Europe with 19.7%.
The report also notes that PET recycling is another key issue for players along the PET supply chain due to growing consumer concern for the impact of PET bottles on the environment. Recycling PET conserves fossil fuel, and reduces energy usage, resulting in reduced greenhouse emissions.
Legislation and resource protection programs are major drivers for the development and recycling of PET. The report says that growth in the recycled PET (rPET) market is also being driven by big global brand owners, who are signing up for recycled PET in order to make a real difference to their brands, both environmentally and economically.
While the use of rPET is on the rise, there is still some uncertainty whether the uptake of rPET for bottle production will become widespread. The uptake of rPET for bottle content will depend very much on whether rPET costs less than virgin material. In addition, while there is strong demand for recycled PET, there remains a problem with raw material supply and an infrastructure that is not expanding quickly enough to collect the material the industry needs. There are also some concerns that the quality of supply can have had a negative impact on the rPET sector.
Key technology developments to 2017 also include further advances in barrier systems, continued lightweighting, and growing emphasis on sustainability and recycling. Compression technology for PET preform production is another emerging development.