Food Flexible Packaging Market set to grow in North America

Alex Todd

According to a recent report released by Research and Markets, North America’s flexible food packaging market will experience growth during at a CAGR of 5.72%.

Flexible food

These growth figures are great news for manufacturers of flexible packaging who are looking at trading in the North American market, which currently operates in Europe and the rest of the world.

The report released about the future of the flexible food packaging market in North America by Research and Markets is based on an in-depth market study, with inputs from experts in the industry. The report covers the market’s future growth prospects, in addition to discussing the key vendors that operate in the market.

What is Flexible Packaging?
Flexible packaging is a type of packaging that can be easily moulded or bent without losing its integrity or shape. Its main usage is for food and beverage packaging, in addition to being used for personal care products, cosmetics, and some other consumer goods. This type of packaging is made from materials such as paper, aluminium foil, plastic film, and fabrics. When these materials are in the manufacturing process, they are bonded together using either adhesives or heat sealing.

Non-rigid materials go through various processes in their creation including coating, extrusion, lamination, and printing, to convert them into various packaging products. These types of products include sachets, foil bags, films, plastic pouches, and plastic bags.

Flexible packaging has a lot of advantages over more rigid packaging. This packaging type is lighter in weight, easier to store, and less likely to get damaged when transported. Flexible packaging is much more cost-effective than other packaging to be transported. This type of packaging is becoming more popular with manufacturing businesses and retailers.

The sustainability of these products in terms of the environment and their cost-effective nature of them continue to drive the demand and many industries now require versatile packaging across their product ranges.

Increasing Demand from the Food Industry
Flexible packaging plays an important role in the food industry. This versatile packaging helps to extend the shelf life of products, protects the contents against contamination, and can be used to advertise and present important information to consumers.

Food Packaging Industry
The increasing demand is driven by several factors, including increasing measures in food safety, the continuing growth of the packaged food industry, and the huge rise of e-commerce. As the world population continues to grow so does the demand for safe and nutritious food. All these factors have created a boom in the packaged food industry, and this industry is expected to continue growing in the coming years.

E-Commerce has created a requirement for flexible packaging that can safely ship perishable items. The trends are driving the demand for innovative packaging solutions that can meet the needs of the entire food sector. Each website that is launched for food retail increased the demand for flexible packaging for the food markets and each company in the packaging industry that is involved in the manufacturing of these products will continue to feel this increase in demand and benefits of them.

Food Packaging Helps to Protect its Product
Packaging that enhances or increases shelf life are becoming key for many of the world’s leading brands. Innovations like Oxygen Absorbers and high barrier packaging materials are becoming evermore common across a range of products and sectors.

Most food flexible packaging contains high-barrier resins that offer enhanced protection to the packaged products from both oxygen and moisture, which extends the shelf life of the product. This packaging type when compared to other packaging products, is much better in quality, and most recyclable.

The development of flexible packaging makes use of specialised laminated structures and coatings together with resins. EVOH and BOPET are some high-barrier plastics that are used in the development of this type of packaging. These high-barrier plastics are the finest packaging materials in the North American packaging industry and are being increasingly used by food businesses. This packaging has also grown popular among consumer markets too in many countries.

The Research and Markets report also states that there is an increased demand for flexible plastic packaging products in addition to solutions especially in North America, as plastic is replacing both glass and metal packaging. For food flexible packaging, plastic is the preferred choice as it is very versatile and can be made into various shapes and sizes.

Due to its lightweight, this packaging is cheaper to manufacture than other packaging materials and causes reduced carrying and handling costs. Due to the increasing demand for convenience packaged foods globally, the demand for plastic is set to experience a spike during the forecast period, says the report.