Rapid growth in European Stand-Up Pouches continues

With packaging volume reduction, cost reduction and convenience driving rapid growth, European demand for stand-up pouches is forecast to grow by around 5% p.a. over the next five years to reach 28 billion units in 2017.

This is at least twice as fast as the volume growth which is expected in the European flexible packaging market as a whole.

Other report highlights:European sales of pre-made stand-up pouches and laminates used in form-fill-seal pouch-making applications amounted to 22 billion units in 2012.
Associated expenditure on stand-up pouches amounted to around €700 million and accounted for around 6% of total European converted flexible packaging sales.
An estimated 145,000 tonnes of substrates were used in the production of stand-up pouches in Europe in 2012.
Form-fill-seal is increasing its share of the stand-up pouch market with current segmentation estimated at 45% FFS / 55% pre-made pouches.
Overall European growth in unit demand over the last five years has been around 5.5% per annum. This reflects rapid growth prior to 2008, a subsequent slowdown following the onset of the global downturn and since then growth recovery.
Retorted pouches used for wet pet food and human food applications accounted for 45% of the overall total, with 55% taken by non-retort end-uses, primarily liquid beverages, and in applications such as confectionery, grated cheese, fruit compote, and ketchup / mayonnaise.
Growth in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe will out-perform those in Western Europe over the coming years, with growth in wet pet food in Russia and Poland being particularly rapid.