the mumbaibased organization, which is a part of the essel group, has a 32 percent stake in the global market of laminated tubes. the company has targeted the fmcg and pharma markets, as these sectors have the maximum projected growth rates. in india esselpropack lead the way of revolution in the laminated tube and is the largest manufacturer of the world with manufacturing locations in four different continents. the company is a favoured worldwide supply partner to colgate palmolive, unilever, glaxosmithkline, and p&g amongst others. essel was founded in 1984 with a capability of about 50 million tubes. in 1993, by setting up a production plant in egypt, the company made its first inroads into the international arena. in 1997, a completely owned subsidiary was started in china followed in speedy series with a plant in germany in the year of 1998 and one in nepal in 1999. to become the world&rsquos largest laminated tube company, the tubing operations of propack ag were acquired by the company in 2000. propack ag is a swiss multinational. laminated tube industry&rsquos growth is in pharma, dental and cosmetics segments. at present, the largest segment is dental. however, pharma also provides good potential. from pharmaceutical companies, there is a noticeable increase in otc products. most of these products are being packaged in laminated tubes. essel is seeing this sector as one of its key area and is dedicating more resources in innovation in laminates and increasing usage. realising the cost benefit of production in china, essel was one of the first indian organizations to move in. the truth that it also provides one of the biggest domestic markets was an added motivation. the chinese marketplace has a market potential for lamitubes expected at around three billion tubes per year for the toothpaste segment alone, this is not together from other main application areas of personal care products, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals with extremely good growth potential going forward. source of information httppharma.financialexpress.com20070831packagingspecial06.shtml