The total US flexible packaging field will grow by about 3% in the coming year to reach approximately $27.5 billion in 2013, up from $26.7 billion last year, according to statistics in the "State of the US Flexible Packaging Industry" report revealed at the Flexible Packaging Association's annual meeting.
- The value-added portion of the industry in 2012 was $19.8 billion or about three-quarters of the total US flexible-packaging industry. Flexibles make up 18% of the overall $145-billion US packaging market.
- Retail food again lead as the top end-use market for flex packs with $13.1 billion or 49% of the total. Other applications were retail non-food (12%), consumer products (10%), industrial (9%), medical and pharmaceuticals (8%), institutional food (7%) and institutional non-food (5%).
- The US flex-pack industry continued its evolution toward being primarily one of very large companies. Since 1996, the percentage of converters with annual sales over $500 million has grown from 28% to 47%, while the share of mid-size converters with sales between $50-$500 million has fallen from 47% to only 31%.
- As the US economy continued its long drawn-out recovery, flex-pack imports kept rebounding while exports also rose. In 2011, China accounted for 40% of the $3.6 billion of product imported; Canada was the destination for 36% of the $1.7 billion of product that was exported.
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