esselpropack ltd epl, a packaging major, is seeing the pharmaceuticals industry as a thrust area for increasing the use of its products. adaptation of potential users from their existing used packaging materials to laminated tubes is amongst the avenues proposed to create epl&39s business. in the annual report of 2001, the rs 382.5crore epl consolidated revenues indicates that pharmaceuticals field is the only largest user of tubes made up of aluminium. there is a noticeable increase in the demand of otc products from pharmaceutical companies. furthermore, most of the otc products are being packaged in laminated tubes. however, on the whole, of all laminated tubes, the sector represents only about 10 per cent. epl has said that the sector has been identified as their thrust area and they are putting ever more resources into creating it in terms of innovation and manpower in laminates. throughout the world, there are three major global players in laminated tubes. these players accounts for approximately 50 per cent of the market, and epl is the biggest player of the three. of all tubes used, laminated tubes account only 37 per cent. aluminium is still the leader which has 45 per cent share. plastic accounts for 16 per cent share and others, 2 per cent. the expansion of laminated tubes, eroding the stake of aluminium tubes, has mainly happened in the dentifrice oral care segment. in this segment, laminated tubes are the preferred package of choice. the section is strongly dominated by mncs unilever, procter & gamble p&g, colgatepalmolive and glaxosmithkline. these organizations are consolidating and restructuring to increase costs and efficiencies. due to this, epl further mentioned that, partnership with them is of great importance. esselpropack is possibly the only provider who has longterm supply associations with all the big four. in the month of april, epl had revealed its plans to start up a 20million facility in the us to fulfil the requirements of p&g. to lift up the company&39s revenues about 1520 per cent, the fiveyear contract was projected. the contract was also projected for enhancing its international market share from 25 to 30 per cent. in the oral care segment, aluminium tubes still remain in between 34 billion. worldwide, this user industry is enhancing at by 57 per cent in developing markets and about 2 per cent in developed markets. epl also mentioned that this scenario obviously represents huge potential for their future growth. the industry of cosmetics is also likely to contribute to higher use of plastic and laminated tubes. for plastic tubes, epl has two operational bases indonesia and india the business from which is anticipated to expand by 15 per cent on an annual basis. in china, the company recently started a new lamination facility. few of the businesses, which are serviced so far from rented premises, would be shifted to this plant, a senior epl official said. the newly started facility has capability for 400 million tubes epl&39s entire capacity on the ground in china, along with the two other locations, now exceeding a billion tubes. epl is famous to be pursuing an aim of 50 per cent share of the international market for laminated tubes. as disclosed in april 2002, its total capacity was 2.8 billion tubes at 15 production locations throughout the world, anticipated to touch 7 billion tubes. india, from where a 40 per cent share of revenues of epl comes from, is the biggest market of the company. this is likely to dip to 30 per cent. near there, the chinese market where laminated and metal tubes at present enjoy an even share is estimated to expand and account for 30 per cent of the total revenues of epl. its potential action plan, as set out in the annual report of 2001, consists of in addition to being a worldwide leader in the packaging of cosmetics, dentifrice , pharmaceuticals and toiletries, constructing in multilevel security features into tube packaging design to assist clients to easily identify forged tubes and manufacturing of biodegradable packaging materials. source of information httpwww.thehindubusinessline.in20020613stories2002061301990400.htm
