The global packaging machinery market is estimated to have reached some US$22.4 billion in value in 2000 and accounts for approximately 5% of the total US$417 billion global packaging market. Ernst & Young estimates suggest that the packaging machinery market is the most fragmented of all the packaging sectors, with the world’s top ten suppliers accounting for only an approximate 25% share of the US$24.4 billion total.
Although packaging machinery is a largely stable market, demand levels in the United States have seen major swings between peaks and troughs in recent years. The high growth years of 1995, 1997, and 1999 saw increases in demand of 11%, 8.1%, and 7.5% respectively, whereas the lower growth years of 1996, 1998, and 2000 enjoyed increases of only 1.1%, 2%, and 2.2%. There have also been wide variations in the demand for different machine categories (see PMMI table, p.194). The 1999-2000 period saw the greatest increases for bottling lines, palletizing/unitizing, and general converting machinery; the largest falls in demand were sustained by skin/blister systems, coding/dating, and bag weighing/filling.
As in most of the other sectors of packaging, the highest growth opportunities for packaging machinery lie in Asia-Pacific, which now accounts for 37% of the overall global market. Asia-Pacific is followed by North America at 28% and Western Europe at 23%. Developing areas like Asia-Pacific, Latin America, China, India, Russia, and Eastern Europe will benefit from ongoing economic recovery and expansion as well as from acceleration in domestic demand and rising investment by western producers seeking to locate factories near packaging
facilities established in developing areas by multinational food processors and other major customers.
The above comments are a preview of the material Tim Rothwell will present in a November 5 Eye-Opener session at the Conference at Pack Expo.
See the story that goes with this sidebar: The packaging marketplace: A global view
