Intelligent and active packaging to reach $1.1 billion by 2011

Demand for active and intelligent packaging will reach $1.1bn by 2011 in the US, driven by rapid growth in innovation and the need to improve shelf life and safety, according to a new Freedonia Group study.

The food and beverage sector account for 72 per cent of active packaging, such as those oxygen scavenging material, and intelligent packaging, which includes those using time-temperature indicators (TTI), in 2006.

Overall, the market is expected to grow by 13 per cent annually, with intelligent packaging experiencing yearly expansion of 30 per cent to $165m in 2011, while active packaging is projected to advance by 11 per cent to $975 during the same period.

Food applications are expected to rise 12 per cent a year to $435m in 2011, driven by the demand for longer shelf life for processed and packaged foods. Indeed, the expanding organic market, which tends to use fewer preservatives, will boost the opportunities for oxygen scavenging packaging, Freedonia found.

At present, the majority of active and intelligent packaging technologies are still specialty niches in the broad US packaging sector due to the relatively high cost of many product types, according to Freedonia.

Beverage manufacturers are expected to be one of the fastest on the uptake of using packaging innovations anticipated by the study. A 15 per cent annual climb to a market value of $395m in 2011, with above average growth expected based on technology advances and greater cost-competitiveness of monolayer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles versus multilayer systems.

However, Freedonia found, PET bottles with oxygen scavenging technology will continue to account for a small percentage of beverage bottles based on the low penetration of the material as a beer package, due to cost disadvantages against glass and the limited range of other beverages needing to use the technology.

Rising food industry interest in time-temperature indicators, due to ever stringent requirements to monitor the environments products are subjected to throughout the supply chain, will drive the intelligent packaging market.

Manufacturer, distributor and retailers are all focusing on reducing losses of products that cannot be sold due to oxidation and temperature abuse. On package fresh indicators are also expected tp expand the market, the study found.
Source: packwire