International Food Interest Drives Frozen Food Packaging Market

woman looking at frozen food packaging | BPFY

Frozen food packaging is seeing a major boost in sales and growth, thanks to the positively consecutive growth of the frozen food industry itself. Food industry experts, already crediting this positive growth to increased international interest in frozen food, are now forecasting an outstanding CAGR of 5.3% by 2023 for the frozen food packaging industry.

Frozen Food Packaging Growth

In a 2018 report by Allied Market Research on the frozen food packaging industry, the world’s food packaging industry was estimated to be worth $33m in 2016. By 2023 however, it is expected to be as valuable as $47m. This means that a CAGR of 5.3% is expected between 2017 and 2023.

The market share is greatly concentrated in North America and Europe, and they’ve been making up nearly two-thirds of the global market share since 2016. North America’s market, in particular, is expected to grow even farther at an expected CAGR of 4.4% by 2023.

Many other world regions continue to grow too, especially Europe, which was recorded to have generated two-fifths of the market share in 2016.

At a CAGR of 7.8% by 2023, the Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow the fastest of them, thanks to a number of emerging economies in its region. Latin America, the Middle East and Africa are expected to follow swiftly in its footsteps.

Growth Drivers

Accounting for the current growth of the frozen food packaging industry, experts identified a number of drivers. Some are unique to certain global market regions, while others are rather general to all.

The most notable growth driver for frozen food packaging today is the world’s growing interest in international food and the resulting demands that come from it. Coupled with increasing disposable income per individual in many developed and developing economies, frozen foods are seeing new growth in demand.

Urbanization is another growth driver; as more and more regions develop into urban centers around the world, more and more people are introduced to the urban way of living, which undoubtedly involved frozen foods and their packaging.

The retail boom is another driver, especially in established market regions, according to experts. Despite America’s recent retail apocalypse, new retail chains are sprouting up in both America and other parts of the world, further expanding the reach of frozen food and its associated packaging to new areas.

Experts are also looking at the growing number of smaller nuclear families as a driver, in addition to the dynamic lifestyle many people are taking up today.

Food package manufacturers are driving some of the growth too. Regular improvements in package design has proved a major purchase incentive. Most players are continuously investing in advanced and creative packaging that keeps products frozen for longer without hampering safety or nutrition quality.

Increased varieties of frozen food products are another growth driver for the frozen food packaging industry, as consumers find there’s something for them too. The main food types normally represented in frozen food packaging, such as poultry, seafood, frozen meat and ice cream have all expanded to include new products that are reigniting customer excitement. International audiences like that they can access frozen specialties such as breakfast food and frozen fruits easily.

Regional Growth Drivers

  • North America is already the fastest-growing market for frozen food packaging thanks to existing preference for wide varieties of frozen foods. Demand in the region continues to grow for both frozen food and good packaging, thanks to higher disposable incomes, the rise of e-commerce and regular improvements of food package manufacturers.
  • The fast-rate of growth and urbanization in the Asia-Pacific market sector is the reason experts are betting their highest hopes that it will make the highest growth by 2023. The region, which includes a number of emerging and major economies like India, Japan and China, is already experiencing high demand for frozen food. The region is also notable for its high populations, and its fast urbanization.
  • For the Middle East, and on a smaller scale, Africa, the reason for higher expectations in the future of the frozen food packaging industry is that retail networks are expanding within both regions, and wide-scale urbanization is on the horizon.

Nevertheless, the frozen food industry as a whole continues to suffer from negative consumer perception from consumers regarding its supposed low nutritional value, especially in developing countries. According to market studies, this is causing low sales for frozen products in those countries and vertically hurting the frozen food packaging industry.

Major Players and Segments

Of all the many players in the frozen food packaging market, a few were seen to stand out in the previous year. A 2018 report from Radiant Insights lists the industry’s top 5 key players that year as Huhtamakai N.A, Printpack Inc., International Paper Company, Amcor Ltd and FLAIR Flexible Packaging Corporation.

Crown Holdings Inc., WestRock Company, Sealed Air Corporation, Graphic Packaging International Inc., Bemis Company Inc., Pactiv LLC and Ball Corporation round out the top list. Allied Market Research’s 2018 report on frozen food packaging also listed the same players.

Most of these companies are already international, dealing in regions such as Europe (which is listed in the Allied Market Research as one of the fastest-growing markets) and North America, which explains their success.

There are many frozen food packaging options in use today, including bags, wraps, pouches, boxes, trays and more. Boxes, in all their paper, wood, plastic and metallic varieties, have always been a popular option and were seen to gain a CAGR of 4.8% in 2016 alone.

According to the Allied Market Research report for 2018, bags are also getting more popular, and are expected to experience the biggest growth between 2017 and 2023 (an expected CAGR of 6.0%). Plastic-based frozen food packaging is another growing niche, with a CAGR of over 5.7% being expected of it by 2023.

As for the food items being packaged, a few stood out as the most ordered. Ready meals topped the list with the highest share of sales.

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