The research business, which announced earlier this week that it was rebranding from its previous name pira international, said that the growth would be driven by emerging markets in asia pacific, latin america, central and eastern europe and the middle east and africa. In the study, &lsquothe future of global pet packaging to 2017&prime, smithers pira predicts that in asia pacific, south america and central and eastern europe, growing incomes and the adoption of pet packs for products previously packed in other materials would drive the markets.
The study also reveals how asia pacific has overtaken both north america and western europe during the period 200712 to become the largest regional market for pet packaging. The region now accounts for a projected 29.4 of world pet packaging consumption in 2012, followed by north america with 24.1 and western europe with 19.7. It also notes that the use of recycled pet is rising but says &ldquothere is still some uncertainty whether the uptake of rpet for bottle production will become widespread. &ldquothe uptake of rpet for bottle content will depend very much on whether rpet costs less than virgin material.
In addition, while there is strong demand for recycled pet, there remains a problem with raw material supply and an infrastructure that is not expanding quickly enough to collect the material the industry needs.&rdquo other key technology developments to 2017, the report predicts, include further advances in barrier systems, continued lightweighting and growing emphasis on sustainability and recycling.