Demand for aseptic
packaging in the US
is projected to expand 8% per year to $5.1 billion in 2015, well above the
overall packaging average. Growth will be driven by drug sterility
requirements and ambient distribution and storage advantages for food and
beverages. The shelf stability of
aseptic packaging will fuel rapid growth in dairy-based beverages and other
dairy products as it enables these perishable products to move through the supply
chain unrefrigerated. Advances will be
moderated by the high capital investment of aseptic processing equipment and
the reluctance of food and beverage firms to shift away from highly efficient
hot-fill and retort processing operations.
These and other trends are presented in
Aseptic Packaging, a new
study from
The Freedonia Group, Inc.,(
www.freedoniagroup.com) a
Cleveland-based industry market research firm.
Pharmaceuticals
were the largest aseptic packaging market in 2010, accounting for 64% of the
total. Opportunities will be driven by preferences among health care providers
for unit-dose delivery formats.
Growth
for aseptic packaging in the beverage market will be restrained by the maturity
of the fruit beverage market, expectation among U.S. consumers for chilled milk and
competition from hot-fill packaging, which has a well-established base. Gains in the food market will be driven by
shelf-stability advantages, as well as by expanding applications in liquid,
low-particulate and pumpable foods, often via the replacement of metal cans and
glass jars.
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