Polyethylene Wraps Up the World: Ceresana Analyzes the Market for Bags and Sacks

Konstanz, Germany, February 27, 2016 --(PR.com)-- A new study from the market research institute Ceresana expects that the worldwide demand for bags and sacks made of polyethylene foil, of other plastic foil, of woven plastic strips, as well as of paper, altogether will grow until 2022 to about 37.9 million tons. Polyethylene, especially LLDPE, is the most-commonly used material here. However, individual materials may account for highly different market shares in various applications.

The Fight against Disposable Carrier Bags

Many countries try to reduce the consumption of disposable bags. However, disposable carrier bags made of plastic are not equally problematic in every country: Negative impacts upon the environment depend not only on the amount of per-capita consumption and the number of re-uses but also and especially on the quality of the different waste managements and disposal and recycling systems. In Europe, an amendment of the packaging directive (94/62/EG) commits the member states of the EU to precise actions. This will lead to a noticeable reduction, even if particular countries, like for example Poland, would rather ignore this norm.

Bioplastics are on the rise

Bioplastics are usually exempt from bans and special taxes which are directed to bags made of polyethylene. Plastics which are made of renewable raw materials (e.g. cornstarch) and/or are biodegradable have gained importance in recent years and are increasingly considered by legislators. Yet, the composting of these products does not always run smoothly. Carrier bags made from bioplastics alone will not provide the ultimate solution to the problem.

Struggling Big Bags

In the segment heavy duty and industry sacks plastic replaces paper more and more. In individual sectors like animal feed or construction materials paper bags still play an important role, though; yet, even here polyethylene gains further market shares. Thereby, there are significant differences between countries. Cement for example is wrapped up in plastic sacks more often in Asia than in Europe. The demand for heavy-duty sacks depends to a high degree on the dynamics of the construction sector which recently subsides for example in Brazil and China. Ceresana expects that the consumption of heavy duty sacks made of plastic in Brazil will only increase by 2.5% per year during the forecast period.

Unbridled Triumphal March of Stand-Up Pouches

In food packaging the trend is still towards plastic bags, which for example replace metal cans or glass jars. Flexible plastic bags adapt better to the goods which helps to optimize the packaging size. Oftentimes, they are microwavable as well. Stand-up pouches have shown a downright triumphal march in the past few years. The per capita consumption in the different countries still varies strongly – accordingly, this type of packaging material still has an enormous potential for growth. For bags and sacks modern form-fill-seal processes gain more and more importance: With the aid of suitable machines the forming of the packaging, their filling, as well as the sealing take place in one single continuous process.

The Study in Brief:

Chapter 1 provides a description and analysis of the global market for bags and sacks made of plastic as well as of paper, including a prognosis up to the year 2022. For each region of the world figures of demand split by material and by end use as well as amounts of production split by material are given in tonnes.

Chapter 2 the demand for bags and sacks broken up into end use and material, the production broken up into materials (“LDPE,” “LLDPE,” “HDPE,” “other plastics (foil),” “plastics (woven),” (“paper”) as well as import and export split by materials are analyzed for 16 countries.

Chapter 3 deals in detail with the application areas “carrier bags,” “garbage bags and sacks,” “heavy-duty and industry,” “food packaging,” as well as “other applications.” The data is again split by materials.

Chapter 4 takes a look at the demand for bags and sacks split by the types of material “polyethylene,” “other plastics (foil),” “plastics (woven),” as well as “paper.”

Chapter 5 provides profiles of the most important manufacturers of food packaging, clearly arranged according to contact details, revenues, profit, product range, production sites, profile summary, type of product, and application. Detailed profiles are given for 126 producers, for example Amcor Ltd., Constantia Flexibles Group, DS Smith Plc, Du Pont, Formosa Plastics Corporation, Mondi plc, Oji Holdings, Reynolds Consumer Products LLC, Sealed Air Corporation, Smurfit Kappa, Sonoco Products Company, Stora Enso Oyj, Toppan Printing Co., Ltd., Toyo Seikan Co., Ltd., and Uflex Limited.

About Ceresana
Ceresana is a leading international market research and consultancy company for the industrial sector and operates branch offices in Constance, Vienna and Hong Kong. For more than 10 years, Ceresana has been supplying several thousand customers from 60 countries with up-to-date market intelligence. Extensive market knowledge creates new prospects for strategic and operational decisions. Ceresana's clients profit from implementation-oriented consulting services, tailor-made single-client studies and more than 90 independent multi-client market studies. Ceresana's analysts are experts in the following markets: Chemicals, plastics, additives, commodities, industry, consumer goods, packaging, agriculture, and construction materials.