Convenience still king in European packaged food market

The Future of European Food and Drink Packaging to 2020 report has reported that the growth of packaged food and drink consumption is being driven by continuing growth in retail food packaging as well as a recovery in foodservice packaging markets.

Convenience has played an important role in shaping consumption trends, Smithers Pira said, with ready meals, prepared chilled foods and breakfast bars proving popular in recent years. Increasingly, time-poor consumers are looking for new ways to make most efficient use of their time. Five minutes cooking a ready meal is often a more popular option than making a fresh meal in 30 minutes or more, which has been reflected in poor consumption growth within fresh products – overall rather than packaged

Convenience has also played an important factor not only in the type of foods people eat, but also in the type of packaging. The rise in convenience foods has changed the dynamics of packaging, with new pack features required and more demand for specific pack types. For example, another recent report from Smithers Pira has stated that flexible packaging technology has advanced dramatically over the past 10 years and is now a consumer household mainstay, steadily moving into new markets and applications. The main purpose of packaging has been traditionally to protect, preserve and promote products. However, packaging has and is developing itself to cater for convenience and environmental aspects. Lightweighting has become an important factor in the packaging market, with most significant influence in beverage cans and bottles. This has been driven by two main factors: environmental pressures and lower material usage for packages, meaning lower costs.

Countries under review in the Future of European Food and Drink Packaging to 2020 report are Belgium, The Nerthelands, Scandinavia, Poland, Spain, Italy, France, UK, Germany and Russia.

Overall, according to the report, food and drink consumption for the countries under review increased at an average rate of one percent over the 2010-2014 period. Consumption growth for food and alcoholic beverages has been weak, with savory snacks, baby food, ready meals and chilled foods driving demand with growth of around two percent a year. However, it is the non-alcoholic beverage sector that has performed most strongly, growing by around three percent a year. The non-alcoholic beverage sector has largely seen growth through consumers reducing their alcoholic intake and instead opting for non-alcoholic beverages.

The retail sector has seen stronger packaging penetration rates, growing from 63 percent in 2010 to 66 percent in 2014, with key areas including fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat and fish, chilled foods and baked products. This has largely been due to an effort to reduce food waste, but also for ready-to-eat or convenience based products such as cakes and pastries, cereal bars and ready prepared chilled foods.