A total of 620.5 billion stand-up and flat pouches, including high-barrier and retort formats, will be used in packaging worldwide in 2024, according to the latest market report from Smithers.
The Future of Pouch Packaging to 2029 tracks how this market, with a projected value of $37.9 billion in 2024, will continue to grow.
The report states that compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of +4.4 per cent will push this to $47.0 billion in 2029, at constant prices, with volumes increasing to 754.0 billion units.
Smithers analysis shows value is growing significantly faster than consumption, as multiple products invest in more expensive stand-up pouches, including retort or high-barrier constructions, rather than cheaper, lower-barrier flat pouches.
It found that although flat pouches still represent around three quarters of the contemporary market, customer convenience and the need to develop new easy-to-recycle formats are fuelling innovation in both segments.
In 2024, 2.56 million tonnes of materials are projected to be used in the production of pouches with a CAGR of +3.6 per cent forecast to raise this to 3.05 million tonnes in 2029.
By volume, metallised films were found to be the mostly widely used material in pouch manufacture (40%), followed by low- to medium-barrier polymers (34%), and then aluminium foil (18%).
According to the report, sustainability concerns will shape future changes in pouch construction, which includes multiple design-for-recyclability standards from brand owners and industry groups.
In Europe, such requirements will become legally binding under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) by the end of the decade, alongside requirements to increase volume of recycled materials.
The report also found that recyclability will pose a major challenge for flexible packaging and pouch designers, stating further development of recycling infrastructure in necessary, particularly in the collection and sorting of pouches.
The difficulty in extracting materials from post-consumer recycled composite constructions and laminates made with aluminium foils will slow growth for such formats, and PVdC is losing market share, as environmental concerns drive a substitution to other high-barrier materials, such as EVOH.
This challenge will see a transition towards greater use of paper and bio-lined/coated structures, in low- to medium-barrier applications over the next five years, alongside wider use of mono-material or polyolefin-only laminates.
For these there are still outstanding technical needs for improved processing speeds, as well as enhanced barrier and sealing performance.
Food was found to continue its dominance in pouch demand, accounting for over 80 per cent of the market in 2024. In this sector the proliferation of SKUs by brand owners to create niche products and greater choice for consumers has implications for pouch producers.
This was found to lead to shorter individual product runs, with large brand owners engaging smaller specialist converters to handle these.
Beyond food, the increasing popularity of unit dose packaging makes pouches a popular alternative – including for laundry detergents and dishwashing tablets.
Pouches were also found to be simultaneously gaining traction as a refill option for soaps, laundry detergents and household cleaning products.
As brands search for more interesting, creative packaging, some are investigating alternative pouch shapes, and the report says that because these can be difficult to accommodate on standard fill and seal lines, the trend will develop production of more complex designs, which will increasingly be outsourced to third-party packaging companies.
