Growth in the world market for packaging machinery is expected to reach an estimated $42.2 billion by 2021, up from $36.8 billion in 2016, according to the newly released A Look at Packaging Around the World infographic from PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. 

This prediction of a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8 percent arrives just in time for the PMMI produced PACK EXPO International and Healthcare Packaging EXPO (Oct. 14–17, 2018; McCormick Place, Chicago), where attendees can see the innovations and new technology fueling this expanding market.

Serving as a visual snapshot of PMMI’s 2018 report Global Trends Impacting the Market for Packaging Machinery, the infographic forecasts the 2021 market by region with the Asia Pacific coming in at $15.5 billion, Europe, Middle East, Asia (EMA) at $14.1 billion and The Americas at $12.6 billion. 

Several reasons for this global expansion cited in the infographic, include:

• Population
• Growing middle class
• Heightened sustainability concerns
• More spending power in developing regions
• Increased popularity of flexible packaging (specifically pouches)
• Demand for smart packaging (QR codes and augmented reality) 
• Serialization (62 percent of medicines purchased online are fake and substandard) 

While food is the largest industry sector at 40 percent and beverage is the second largest industry sector at 30 percent (all other industries account for the additional 30 percent), pharmaceuticals is the fastest growing sector, coming in with a CAGR of 4.1 percent. 

In 2016, filling and dosing machinery was the leading machinery group, accounting for 20.7 percent of the total market ($7.6 billion in revenue) while labeling, decorating and coding machinery was the second largest, accounting for 12.6 percent of the overall market ($4.6 billion in revenue).

The machine groups forecast to have the highest growth rates from 2016 to 2021 are:

• Horizontal form, fill and seal (3.2 percent CAGR)
• Fill and seal (3.1 percent CAGR)
• Labeling, decorating and coding (3.0 percent CAGR)

Bringing together 2,500 exhibitors and 50,000 attendees (from more than 125 countries) representing virtually every vertical market over 1.2 million net square feet of exhibit space, PACK EXPO International and co-located Healthcare Packaging EXPO is indisputably the year’s most comprehensive packaging event in the world—and the one that powers innovation like no other. 

Don’t miss the chance to see machinery in action – register for PACK EXPO International and Healthcare Packaging EXPO today. For more information and to register online, visit packexpointernational.com or hcpechicago.com.