Developments in the Asia Pacific food and beverage sector will be a major reason behind the growth of packaging materials market growth. The Asia Pacific region includes a large number of emerging economies such as China, India, and South Korea, and these countries have been witnessing increased consumption of food and beverage products which will in turn drive packaging materials market demand.
In 2016, the Asia Pacific food and beverage industry registered a turnover of exceeding $3tn and is likely to witness a high growth rate. The three most important food segments that are driving the Asia Pacific food market are grain mill products, meat products, and oils and fats. These developments will boost demand for flexible and rigid plastics, glass, metal, and paper packaging materials demand throughout the forecast span.
Consumption of beverages in Asia Pacific has also been on the rise in the last two decades. The region is the largest beverage market in the world accounting for more than 40% of the worldwide consumption. Among all beverage products, alcoholic drinks were an important segment in the region with beer being the major product. Beer consumption in Asia Pacific is the highest in the world while China is the largest market among all countries in the world. Annual consumption has been on the rise in some Asia Pacific countries such as Vietnam, India, and South Korea.
The consumption of non-alcoholic beverages such as sugar sweetened drinks, health drinks, and fruit juices are also on the rise in Asia Pacific owing to increasing income levels and changing consumption trends. These factors will drive demand for beverage packaging materials such as rigid plastic, metal, and glass and will augment the packaging materials market growth through the forecast period.
Flexible plastics is the largest materials segment in the packaging materials market in terms of volume. This segment is likely to be valued over $190bn by 2024. The segments growth will be augmented by extensive usage in packaging food items and household products. The availability of a broad range of flexible plastic materials with distinct characteristics has turned this segment into one of the most important materials in the industry. The ability of flexible plastics to be manufactured in a range of shapes and sizes, lower weight, inert nature, superior performance characteristics, low cost, and easy printability makes it the most versatile packing material.
Bags, pouches and wraps is the largest product segment in the packaging materials market as they are used for packaging a wide variety of items including food, detergents, beverages, etc. This segment will cover over one-third of the overall packing industry in terms of value. Characteristics such as lower comparative costs, ease of storage and handling, along with the availability of many specialty products like retort packaging and shrink films will augment bags, pouches and wraps packing materials market growth in forecast timeframe.
