Higher selling prices drive European flexible packaging industry growth

- European flexible packaging production growing by 5.1% in value terms in 2011
- Overall growth figure covers up some significant regional differences in demand trends
A new study by PCI Films Consulting has valued the European converted flexible packaging market at €11.6 billion, with rising ink, adhesive and energy costs being passed on to customers through higher selling prices.
The PCI Films “European Flexible Packaging Market to 2016” report found that European flexible packaging production grew by 5.1 percent in value terms in 2011.
Regional demand
However, PCI Films added that the overall growth figure covers up some significant regional differences in demand trends – the larger volume markets of Western Europe grew at around four to six percent, while demand in the Spanish and Portuguese markets was broadly static.

Further industry consolidation was another significant factor which has changed the European supplier base and is noted in PCI’s report.
Following Amcor’s acquisition of Alcan’s European flexible packaging operations in 2010 has been the recent acquisition by Mondi of Nordenia International, which sees Mondi emerging as Europe’s third largest player after Amcor and Constantia.
Also a number of venture capital groups, notably Sun Capital, have been active in reshaping the structure of the industry via a series of acquisitions. This has resulted in Britton Group and Kobusch Packaging appearing in PCI’s European top 20 table of flexible packaging converters for the first time.
The table also shows for the first time a converter from Eastern Europe appearing in the list, namely the fast growing Ukrainian company Ukrplastic.
Report author Paul Gaster said: ‘Even in these uncertain times, volume growth in European consumption was almost two percent last year, confirming that flexible packaging continues to suffer less than other industries in a downturn.’
Read more from PCI Films here
Read more on substrates here
Read more news from across Europe here
Stay up to date
Subscribe to the free Label News newsletter and receive the latest content every week. We'll never share your email address.