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THE GLOBAL FLEXIBLE PACKAGING
MARKET, NOW AND 2015 , PIRA, BRUSSELS 2005
PIRA, Brussels 2005 Flexible Packaging 2005
PIRA 5th International Conference
19th-20th October 2005, Brussels Belgium
The film industry structure went through continuing changes over
the last thirty years, and the trend accelerated in the last seven
years. This is true both for the raw material film production and
for film conversion and multilayer films, although with different
trends.
In raw film production, essentially polyolefins,
the first entrants, in the 1960-1970s, often were the plastics producers
that wanted to move tonnage fast. In the last twenty years, the large
plastics producers disinvested their film and other plastics processing
activities.
In converted film production, the last twenty five
years have been a continuous story of restructurations and acquisitions
by the larger groups in the film industry. First, medium and large
size film converters bought the many family groups that were created
in the 1960s, then, by the end of the 1980s, the larger groups started
acquisitions of their peers. This concentration trend is not ended.
The long story of concentration in multi-layer flexible films is
continuing, as there still are many small and medium size players,
with very innovative vision and ambitions, eyed by the giant companies.
As of 2005, it is roughly estimated that the largest flexible converted
film suppliers in Europe/North America may cover about 50 % of the
total converted films.
More and more the world largest and most concentrated film suppliers
are in packaging. A number of trends can explain the concentration
of the flexible film industry to continue, among which:
- The customer base now pan–European, and fast including
Eastern Europe, and Russia
- Growth of the supermarket retailers of all types, and migration
of the supply chain value
- Increasing scale of the raw materials suppliers to the converting
industry
- Squeeze on operating margins driving to search for the lowest
cost effective production
Multimaterial constructions, with polymers and other materials,
and all polymers, have developed over the years, and are a large,
fast growing, and continuously innovative part of the plastics industry.
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