This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at La industria del packaging se enfrenta al reto del precio de las materias primas

Ver más artículos sobre: Thematic area: Plastics in packaging

The packaging industry is facing the challenge of the price of raw materials

16/07/2008

The latest report of the consulting firm AMI analyzes the 18 million tonnes consumed in Europe in this market

The packaging is the largest market for thermoplastics. It is about half of the polymers converted into Europe. In 2007 were 18 million of material, a business which reached a value of EUR 54 billion. In terms of volume, it is estimated that 21 percent of all plastic materials is intended for the packaging, while as far as value is concerned remains the highest share of the market, the 30 per cent. The use of plastics in packaging is reviewed in the last report of AMI presented at the Interpack trade fair. It provides a concise view of the European market by registering the biggest developments in flexible and rigid packaging.

According to the consultant, the plastic packaging market has reached a State of maturity in Western Europe, with a slow growth that is more or less on par of GDP.

In contrast, many markets of Eastern Europe are experiencing dynamic growth orchestrated by lower labor costs, a growing consumption and its recent accession to the EU. Even the markets of Western Europe accounted for 89 per cent of the demand for use in packaging in 2007.

The biggest market is German, but Italy and Benelux have greater demand per capita for polymers in packaging, reflecting the presence of these countries of greater export oriented transformers, particularly for film and preforms from PET. In Western Europe, United Kingdom has one of the consumption per capita lower, as a result of the falling demand for polymers motivated by rationalizations of plants and an increase in imports of packaging.

In the market of central Europe countries of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and the Slovak Republics, Baltic States, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania have only been able to achieve significant growth since the beginning of the 1990s following the collapse of the former Communist regimesdue to the investments of major food suppliers and manufacturers of products for the consumer such as Unilever, Danone, Procter & Gamble, and many others. The recent increase in the chains of super - and hypermarkets owned Western as Tesco and Carrefour in Central Europe have also influenced the election and expectations of consumers.

There has been strong growth in the use of PET for bottles and stretch films and films for packaging. The report contains detailed information, country by country analysis and also includes the predictions of AMI in regards to the European market in the next five years.

One of the biggest challenges for the industry in the plastics for packaging in Europe is the growth of the price of raw materials. AMI report delves into the industry's response to increases in the price of oil and the pressure to reduce the environmental impact of polymers for packaging. We also review the development of polymers derived from biomass with the advice of the trends for thermoplastics traditional packaging applications.

The main market that addresses the plastic is the beverage and food industry. Almost all types of plastics are some application in this sector estimated that it has with 70 per cent of all polymers used in packaging.

The largest markets are not related to the segment of the food where the plastic is used in industrial products are chemical household products, cosmetics and medical - pharmaceutical.