This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at El mercado europeo del packaging flexible convertido mueve 20.000 millones de euros

According to a report by the consulting firm AMI

The European market for the flexible packaging converted moves 20,000 million euros

Drafting Interempresas14/07/2010

July 14, 2010

The container and converted flexible packaging is one of the most complex and dynamic of the European packaging industry sectors. A recent report from Applied Market Information Ltd. (AMI) has detailed, for the first time, the activities of fifty of the largest companies operating in it. In this report Mai estimated that the European industry of converted flexible packaging and the packaging consumed about 3.6 million tons of substrates in 2009, and the number of negotiated reached approximately 20,000 million euros.

This assessment may surprise some industry observers, in the past it has been frequently are citing figures substantially lower. AMI said, however, believe that this is an undervalued, and that the value of this industry is significantly higher.

Polypropylene (such as this Borpact manufactured by Borealis) is one of the most used materials in the flexible food packaging. Photo: Polyolefins Borealis Spain, S.A.

The packaging and become flexible packaging industry covers flexible materials of containers and packaging that have been subjected to some type of conversion, such as printing, laminating, coating and extrusion process. This includes the use of a wide variety of substrates, including films of plastic, paper or aluminum, which can be used in different ranges of weight, wide different and various combinations.

Although it is an industry traditionally very fragmented, have appeared in Europe a number of major groups at the regional or global level

Given the complexity of the materials and combinations that can be used, and the variety of conversion processes that can be applied, this industry involves a wide range of companies and business models. Although it is an industry traditionally very fragmented, have appeared in Europe a number of major groups at the regional or global level to meet the demands of globalized brand owners. The increase in costs, the increase of environmental pressure and low economic growth have further intensified competition, that being the main operators of the sector to corporate restructuring and major strategic changes. Your attention is focusing more and more in the emerging markets of Europe from the East and Russia, together with measures to move the production to top rated products on the Western front.

Creation of a supergroup

The most significant course change has been procurement by Amcor of Alcan Packaging's Food Europe, Asian Food, Global Pharmaceuticals and Global Tobacco, completed at the beginning of the current year enterprises. Rio Tinto Alcan and Amcor were already in Europe the two largest companies by sales volume, and the combination of both has created a global conglomerate whose sales are placed above the US $ 4 billion and employs some 14,000 people. A substantial part of the sales and human resources of this combination of business reside in Europe, where function conversion plants spread across seventeen countries, including Russia and Turkey. The Mai report analyses for the first time the business combined, including a complete list of all the European plants of the enlarged group, and an estimate of the volume of business in Europe.

In the convertible packaging are used and combined a wide variety of substrates, including films of plastic, paper or aluminum, as well as the containers of the image.

The Amcor expansion has created a converter packaging and pouching of more than twice the size of the next largest company, both in terms of business value and volume of used substrates. He has also served to emphasize the division between the large globalized majors and the rest of the market. Fifty companies analysed in this report include large global groups such as Bemis, Mondi and Sealed Air, along with significant regional players in Europe from the East, Central Europe and Turkey, as well as large national companies in Western Europe. AMI considers that these fifty companies represent little more than 40% of the volume of the market and 50% of its value.