New report outlines “dramatic” growth in U.S. stand-up pouch market

The U.S. stand-up pouch market has seen dramatic growth over the past five years, increasing by 50 per cent in unit volume terms to approaching 17 billion units in 2013 – and will continue to grow by around seven per cent per annum to reach nearly 24 billion units in 2018, at least twice as fast as volume growth expected in the U.S. flexible packaging market as a whole, according to a new report.  

Beverages and pet food are the largest end use categories, the report – by PCI Film Consulting – said, with each accounting for one-third of demand, closely followed by human food applications with around 30 per cent share.

Stimulating the recent growth in pouches has been the drive to replace plastic and glass bottles and cans, packaging cost reduction and consumer convenience.

According to the report, future increases in volume are expected to come from a wide variety of end uses: frozen foods and fruit compotes, frozen spirits, cocktails, baby food, shredded and diced cheese, laundry and dishwashing refill packs and soups. “Other opportunities are only in the early stages of development but pouches used to pack motor oils, dietary meal solutions and possibly olive oil and fresh vegetables are forecast to grow in volume,” the report said.

The growing interest in pouches has been satisfied on the supply-side by the expanding infrastructure of toll converters and contract packers as well as advances in pack resealability and slider technologies. “Pre-made pouches retain a majority share of the U.S. stand-up pouch market with printed laminate for form-fill-seal applications currently accounting for less than a quarter of total pouch units,” the report said.

For more on the PCI report, click on this link.