Plastic Pouches: How To Make Them & Growth Projections

In my job as a consultant, teacher, and author, I get to see and read a lot of various processes and reports behind the scenes so to speak. One of the more recent reports I’ve read was Smithers-Pira soon-to-be-released report on the future of pouch packaging.

Recently, I was involved with the production of the Smithers-Pira report on the future of pouch packaging. Normally I don’t comment on any work I do for anyone for a number of years, but this is an exceptional work that describes not only market volumes, prices, etc., which, of course, is very important, but it also describes how the various products are made. This latter point is what interests me, and I’m sure would interest engineers around the world. I am not allowed to go into depth, but I can speak to the report in general terms.

A look at the website below shows that the global pouch packaging market will grow from $15 billion in 2016 to $19 billion by 2021, for a global average compound annual growth rate of 4.6%. There are various reasons for this, such as various pouch formats and new fixture technologies are increasing market share in an array of applications in food, beverages, and other end-use segments. Here is a sample graphic from the report.

A lot of work has gone into the report, and it is fair to say the report examines the evolving global marketplace and forecasts it for all types of pouch products for the period 2016-2021. For example, it is reported that the global pouch packaging market that is projected at 324 billion units in 2016 is forecasted to grow 4.7% per year to 407 billion units in 2021. From flat pouches to stand-up pouches, from packaging for cherries to cookies to detergents, from Malaysia to France, all segments, all materials, all manufacturing methods, and all the pros and cons are covered.

This is in line with talks I have heard by the FPA (the Flexible Packaging Association-USA) and extensive discussions with the FPE (Flexible Packaging Europe): flexible packaging is steadily increasing its penetration into markets dominated by traditional packaging methods, such as glass, tin, and paper/poly/foil/poly composites. In fact, I will be presenting a paper on this topic next month at the AIMCAL Fall Technical Conference in Memphis, TN.

More information on the Smithers-Pira pouch report can be found at: www.smitherspira.com.

Remember, your timely suggestions for follow-up articles are alwasy welcome by writing me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


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