Waste efficient packing equipment could offset used machinery gains

The analysts forecast that world demand for packaging machinery will grow 5.2 per cent annually through 2012 to $39.8bn.

While growth is expected to be relatively sluggish in countries such as the UK, Germany, Italy and Japan, claim the analysts, packaging equipment demand in China will expand by more than $3.3bn from 2007 to 2012; in fact, the researchers expect China to surpass the US and become the largest market in the world in this regard.

The study said that increases are also expected to be healthy in India and Russia, as well as in lower-volume markets such as Ukraine, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey.

According to the evaluation, packaging equipment production will also increase at a faster rate in developing countries, but that Western Europe, Japan and the US will continue to account for over two-thirds of all packaging machinery production by 2012.

Labelling and coding equipment will record the strongest gains of any packaging machinery type, driven by a growing need for accurate tracking of products for safety and security reasons, coupled with an expanding number of labelling regulations, states the report.

Demand for wrapping, bundling and palletizing machinery will also rise at an above average pace, continued the report, fuelled in part by improvements in equipment design, helping to spur replacement sales.

However, the report forecasts that filling and form/fill/seal equipment will remain the most widely used type of packaging machinery, and will account for close to one quarter of the 2012 market total.

The report is available through the catalogue of Reportlinker.com.