In its report ‘Blow Molded Bottles – The European Market 2018’, it found the outlook for this market is positive with further growth for added value products and use of recyclates.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
According to Márta Babits, consultant, AMI Consulting, sustainability is becoming increasingly important and has been incorporated in the agenda of all significant brand owners and their suppliers.
Most have established longterm sustainability targets, looking at ways to reduce, reuse and recycle packaging.
They are also focusing on packaging weight reduction, which in turn affects polymer demand and drives the development of better-performance materials and technology.
The report claims use of PET and HDPE recyclates has been steadily growing but now will accelerate.
Recyclates growth will be driven by the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan and some major brand owners’ commitment to increase the recycled content in their packaging to 25% or more by 2025.
The growth of recyclates requires the development of a new supply chain, investments in capacity, closed-loop recycling and sorting technology.
Minimise costs
AMI Consulting forecasts demand overall will reach 203 billion units to 2022, a CAGR 1.4% 2017-22, but growth in some segments will be well above the average.
“As price pressures are increasing, the supply chain is forced towards maximizing operational efficiency and minimize costs,” said Babits.
“Brand owners are reducing the role of the converter by increasingly controlling polymer procurement, gaining competence in blow molding and injection molding, and acquiring cost-transparency through self-manufacture.
“As value-capture decreases, converters are becoming specialists and reduce cost through operating fewer sites.”
AMI claims several players have focused their development efforts on their preform business looking at how to add value, for example, focusing on barrier technology.
The largest blow molded bottle producers in Europe include Alpla, Logoplaste, Plastipak, RPC and Serioplast.