The global food packaging market seems to have reached a plateau in terms of technology and its ability to protect and extend the life of the food within the packaging, according to a report by Reportbuyer.com.
With the slow growth of mature markets in the more developed, western economies and the burgeoning economies of the east, the report states the global food packaging market will attain sales of US$251.8 billion in 2013.
According to Global Food Packaging Market 2013-2023, new technologies and developments of food packaging in the west come at great financial, research and design costs and the benefit of these discoveries on the already existing packaging are marginal at best.
The focus in these mature markets has now drifted to branding and the development of new and more exotic food stuffs.
In the east, it is a case of playing catch up in terms of technology and pushing out the reach of supply chains and logistic channels as the life of packaged food has met their limits.
Infrastructure and logistics have to cover the gap to enable food to reach their end customers from the farm gate.
Looking at the materials comprising the global food packaging market, countries such as the US and Brazil favor materials like paperboard and glass respectively.
However, flexible and rigid plastics are still in high demand due to their costs and performance as malleable materials and their abilities to cope in almost all environments.
