Aided by bold new packaging designs, the global packaging market is set to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.8% from US$806.3 billion in 2016 to more than US$1 trillion in 2026, a new report is forecasting.
The report by market research firm Smithers Pira, entitled “The Future of Packaging Design: Long-Term Strategic Forecasts to 2026,” concludes that the future of the packaging industry will be shaped by general political, economic, social and technological factors. Meanwhile, the specific future of packaging design to 2021 and 2026 is predicted to be determined by supply side technological trends and demand side consumer trends.
“The political environment will affect the packaging industry and packaging design via initiatives, legislation and regulation affecting environmental affairs such as sustainability, food packaging labelling and packaging safety,” said Ashley Gange, report author. “Sustainability has become a particularly important consideration in many areas over the past decade. This is especially true in packaging where it is a major issue since packaging materials are extremely visible to the consumer. This is because packaging as a single-use product faces intense and growing pressures from consumers, retailers, suppliers, governments, regulators, NGOs, environmental groups and others for the development of environmentally friendly solutions.”
The report also noted that, for the first time, the European labour market saw more workers retired than joined in 2010. “The impact of this trend on the printing industry will become more evident with time, as the gap is predicted to widen substantially,” the report said. “In a decade, larger countries including Canada, China and South Korea will have more people at retirement than working age. Emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico, and India are seeing more people joining labour markets than ever. If these countries offer their younger population with proper education and opportunities to develop their skills, this demographic trend will help local printing industries.”
By end use, greatest actual growth was recorded by food packaging which increased in value at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2010 to 2015. “Its share of total packaging value rose by 1.7% over this time,” the report said. “The rate of growth in food packaging is forecast at a CAGR of 3.8% from 2016 to 2021, resulting in an increase in total share of packaging value of 0.2% over this time.”
