“Sales of highly processed foods, ready meals, and ready-to-eat meals are growing considerably” says Oliver Kutsch, CEO of the market research company Ceresana. “Manufacturers are dealing with a complex market that is influenced by many different factors: new consumption patterns, product innovations, government regulations, but also, for example, substitution effects between individual plastics or packaging types.” A current study by Ceresana expects the global demand for rigid plastic containers to reach an annual volume of 62.6 million tonnes until 2025.

Neat and Clean, Quick and Convenient

Demand for rigid plastic containers for foodstuffs is to a large extent affected by the trend towards convenience products. However, effects have to be considered in a differentiated way and are quite complex. For example, microwavable packaging is mainly made of polypropylene. In the sector of ready-to-eat products (RTE), besides rigid containers made of polypropylene, packaging made of PET also profits significantly. The triumph of delivery services, however, causes the market for EPS meal trays to grow considerably. Squeeze bottles compete with more traditional packaging.

National Particularities

Besides overall state regulations and economic development, the market for plastic containers is subject to a range of further influences. The beverage and food market in particular, including the packaging structure, income development, and social trends, must be taken into account. Urbanization and demographic change are accompanied with changing consumption patterns. In some segments, plastics are replacing traditional materials. At the same time, rigid plastic containers also face an increasing competition by bags and other flexible plastic packaging solutions. Further trends such as an increasing quota of women in the working environment, sustainability, bioplastics, lightweighting, and thin wall containers also have an impact on the individual application areas and product types and necessitate an intensive examination of the market mechanisms.

The Study in Brief:

Chapter 1 provides key figures of the global market as well as of the regional markets for rigid plastic packaging and includes forecasts up to 2025. For each region of the world, production and demand figures as well as revenues are given. Demand is split by application areas and plastic types. At the regional level, consumption of rigid plastic packaging is given for several product types: “Standard bottles”, “squeeze bottles”, “dispensers and spray bottles”, “jars, cups, boxes”, “trays”, and “other containers” such as barrels, buckets, canisters, or crates.
Chapter 2 analyzes revenues, production, import, export as well as demand in regard to rigid plastic containers for 16 countries. Furthermore, demand per plastic type split by application area is analyzed for each country – for example demand for containers made of PET in the application area “chilled food”. The following plastic types are examined: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE), polystyrene and expandable polystyrene (PS and EPS) and other plastics. The analyzed application areas: beverages, household chemicals, cosmetics and pharma, food, industry and transport.
Chapter 3 provides company profiles of the largest manufacturers of rigid plastic packaging – clearly arranged according to contact details, revenues, profit, product range, production sites, and profile summary. Extensive profiles are given for 85 manufacturers.


About Ceresana
As one of the world’s leading market research companies, Ceresana is specialized in the plastics, chemicals, packaging, and industrial goods sectors. For 17 years, companies have benefited from high-quality industry analyses and forecasts. More than 170 market reports provide 10,000 customers with the knowledge base for their sustainable success.