Studies predict growth in nanocomposites, pharmaceutical packaging and plastic bottle markets

The U.S. markets for nanocomposites, pharmaceutical packaging and plastic bottles will all experience rapid growth by 2010, according to forecast studies released by the Cleveland, Ohio-based Freedonia Group.
Demand for nanocomposties in the U.S. should reach 344 million pounds of annual production by 2010, Freedonia Groups’s nanocomposite report said, with an industry value of US $14.7 billion.
The report also forecast that nanocomposites based on commodity plastics such as polypropylene (PP) polyethylene (PE), and polyester will dominate the market by that point.
The U.S. pharmaceutical packaging industry will expand 7.0 percent annually to US$11 billion in 2010, Freedonia Groups’ pharmaceutical report said, under the influence of new regulations and standards that address such issues as drug compliance, drug dispensing errors and drug counterfeiting and diversion.
Prefillable inhalers and prefillable syringes will generate the fastest growth opportunities among all pharmaceutical packaging products, the report concluded.
And the demand for plastic bottles in the U.S. will grow to exceed 200 billion units by 2010, consuming nearly 15 billion pounds of plastic resins, the company’s plastic containers forecast said, with bottles and jars remaining the largest plastic container types.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) will be, respectively, the first and second most common resin types used in the plastic container industry by 2010, the report also said.