Aseptic Packaging Demand to Exceed $8 Billion in 2015

Demand for aseptic packaging in the US is projected to expand 8.0 percent per year to $5.1 billion in 2015, well above the overall packaging average. Growth will be driven by drug sterility requirements and ambient distribution and storage advantages for food and beverages.  Specifically, the increasing availability of biotechnology-based injectable drugs necessitates aseptic filling and packaging as such drugs tend to be heat sensitive, making the high heat used in terminal sterilization processes unfeasible.  The shelf stability of aseptic packaging will fuel rapid growth in dairy-based beverages and other dairy products as it enables these perishable products to move through the supply chain unrefrigerated.  Advances will be moderated by the high capital investment of aseptic processing equipment and the reluctance of food and beverage firms to shift away from highly efficient hot-fill and retort processing operations.  These and other trends, including market share and product segmentation, are presented in Aseptic Packaging, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.  

Pharmaceuticals were the largest aseptic packaging market in 2010, accounting for 64 percent of the total.  Through 2015, demand is forecast to advance 8.4 percent annually to $3.4 billion, reflecting the broadening availability and consumption of biotechnology-based drugs, and aseptic filling requirements with other liquid pharmaceuticals.  Additionally, opportunities will be driven by preferences among health care providers for unit-dose delivery formats.  Growth for aseptic packaging in the beverage market will be restrained by the maturity of the fruit beverage market, expectation among US consumers for chilled milk and competition from hot-fill packaging, which has a well-established base.  Gains in the food market will be driven by shelf-stability advantages, as well as by expanding applications in liquid, low-particulate and pumpable foods, often via the replacement of metal cans and glass jars.

The ongoing commercialization of biotechnology-based drugs will fuel above-average demand growth for aseptic vials and ampuls, and prefillable syringes, which are prevalent delivery systems for these drugs.  Prefillable syringes will represent the fastest growing aseptic packaging product type through 2015, with demand projected to expand 11.0 percent yearly to $1.1 billion.  Moreover, opportunities for aseptic prefillable syringes will benefit from safety and convenience advantages and the prevalence of chronic conditions necessitating lifetime drug regimens.

The Freedonia Group is a leading international business research company, founded in 1985, that publishes more than 100 industry research studies annually. This industry analysis provides an unbiased outlook and a reliable assessment of an industry and includes product segmentation and demand forecasts, industry trends, demand history, threats and opportunities, competitive strategies, market share determinations and company profiles.