Bag & pouches: What's hot right now?
Flexible-packaging converters across the country are winning over packaging buyers with reclosable, sustainable, plastic, standup pouches decked out in sales-grabbing graphics. Here are just a few examples...
By Associate Editor Natalie Hasselbacher -- Converting Magazine, 2/13/2009 2:00:00 AM
First, it was cartons and cans falling victim to the pouch. With their latest casualties being bags, particularly simple ones made from paper, today's more sophisticated pouches are expected to expand their dominance over many types of packaging based on aesthetic appeal, reclosable components, portability, light weight and reduced material use.
The latest forecasts from Cleveland-based market researcher The Freedonia Group, Inc. (www.freedoniagroup.com) show that overall sales of pouches are predicted to rise 6.1 percent annually through 2012 to $7.9 billion. That increase is 40 percent below the annual growth rate of standup pouches, whose sales are expected to increase almost 10 percent a year. Standup pouch sales will reach $1.86 billion in 2012, up from $1.17 billion last year, Freedonia predicts.
Food and beverage markets, which made up 78 percent of US pouch demand last year, will post healthy growth for this packaging form through 2012, Freedonia says. Increases will be based on their solid gains for standup pouches in nearly all markets as consumers continue to be drawn to food products with packaging that offers the advantages of reclosability, better portability, microwaveability, longer shelf life and minimal food-preparation time.
Zipping up sales
For example, Plumrose, one of the largest US producers of sliced meats, upgraded its line of premium packaged deli meats with a ZIP-PAK® (Manteno, IL) Double Zip™ resealable closure (www.zippak.com) to help users protect the freshness of their packaged foods and make its pouch more consumer-friendly. Plumrose's lunch-meat packaging, which is designed by Plumrose's in-house graphics manager Kerry Ann Sander, consists of films from Chicago's Alcan Packaging (www.alcanpackaging.com) and Oshkosh, WI-based Curwood, Inc. (www.curwood.com). Alcan provides the printed films that are used on the front of the packages. This printed film features a Double Zip logo on its tearstrips.
In response to consumer demand for its Craisins® Sweetened Dried Cranberries in stand-alone consumption as well as the popularity of portion-controlled snacks, Middleboro, MA-based Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., developed its 100-calorie pre-portioned pouches. Converter Printpack, Inc. (www.printpack.com) had several major challenges: The individual, barrier pouches needed to ensure product freshness, accommodate high-quality graphics and withstand high-speed, automated filling. The secondary package needed to be lightweight with a stable, carton-like base that stands up on the shelf, and also have high-quality graphics for shelf appeal while allowing visibility of the inner pouches.
Printpack (Atlanta) supplies a metallized barrier-lamination rollstock for the inner pouches that is flexographically printed in eight colors. The secondary pouch, Printpack's pre-formed Showpack®, has a full-open top and a "true-flat" fin-sealed bottom. It is flexo reverse-printed and backed with a high-opacity white lamination. A clear lamination on the side gussets creates a "window" to show off the portion packs inside. See further information on Craisins' packaging at www.packagingdigest.com/article/CA6625712.html
Positive outlook for plastic bags
While overall bag demand is projected to rise three percent a year to $8.1 billion in 2011, gains will trail the flexible-packaging average, Freedonia says. Due to their widespread use for baked goods, meats and produce, food-bag applications are expected to increase 3.4 percent annually to $5.1 billion in 2011.
Growth opportunities for paper bags will be constrained by higher demand for those made from plastic, particularly for foods. Plastic film, especially PET, is ideally suited for bag-packaging applications because of its light weight, low cost, versatility, oxygen-barrier properties and marketing qualities. With technological developments and a diverse group of resins, plastic film can be more advantageous in cost and performance in many markets. According to a Freedonia study, fresh-produce uses will be aided by higher consumption trends, along with plastic bag's cost advantages and adequate performance with high-volume commodities such as potatoes, head lettuce, apples, grapes, carrots and celery.
One example that unites the trends of more plastic bags with a nod toward sustainability, major UK retailer Sainsbury's and its potato packer Greenvale are reportedly the first to introduce NaturePlus compostable film from Livingston, UK-based Amcor Flexible Packaging (www.amcor.com) into the fresh-produce sector. Sainsbury's JS SO organic baby salad potatoes were launched late last year in 750-gm bags using heat-sealable film. NaturePlus peelable polylactic acid (PLA) film is manufactured from renewable materials and is fully compostable, Amcor says. The 40-micron coextruded material exhibits excellent peel characteristics, providing the added consumer convenience of an easy-opening bag, Sainsbury says.
| MORE INFO: | ||
| CONVERTERS: | ||
| PRINTPACK, INC., 404/691-5830, www.printpack.com | ||
| ALCAN PACKAGING, 773/399-8000, www.alcanpackaging.com | ||
| CURWOOD, INC., 920/303-7300, www.curwood.com | ||
| AMCOR FLEXIBLE PACKAGING, 44-1506-412-845, www.amcor.com | ||
| SUPPLIERS: | ||
| FREEDONIA GROUP, INC., 440/684-9600, www.freedoniagroup.com | ||
| ZIP-PAK, 800/488-6973, www.zippak.com | ||
Pouch demand is in the bag
01/31/2010
