PACKAGING AND LABELS TO POWER GROWTH

The printed labels and packaging market will grow at a CAGR of 3.6 per cent for both volume and value between now and 2029, according to the latest market report by industry analysts Smithers.

The global value of labels and packaging print will rise to US$618bn in 2029 from US$518bn last year, at constant pricing.

The Smithers report segments the packaging print sector by packaging material, print process, geographic region, and leading national market. This is informed by analysis of leading technical and commercial developments – including the increased adoption of digital print, improved automation of packaging print lines, changes in demographics and retail infrastructure, brand owner calls for more sustainable packaging, and the use of AI in print design. 

Print processes for packaging and labels are seeing higher levels of automation, with prepress, printing and finishing operations increasingly connected and controlled by advanced software. This is favouring digital printing, with analogue methods integrated into converting lines, with high levels of automation simplifying packaging manufacture.

Flexo printing is by far the largest segment by both volume and value. In value terms, the next largest are offset litho and other analogue printing, with offset litho widely used for carton printing, corrugated preprint and wet glue labels, while the latter reflects the high use of dry offset for printing metal packaging and some rigid plastics. 

Digital printing is now a mainstream production process for labels, and is making inroads into corrugated packaging with many single-pass inkjet presses available for preprint and post-print operations. In addition, there are now many multi-pass wide-format and flatbed engines used for low-volume corrugated packaging. Digital print is making headway in cartons, with low-volume toner used for short runs, while B2 and B1 sheetfed launches are replacing some offset machines.

Three regions – Asia, Western Europe, and North America – contribute 81.5 per cent of global package printing output value, and 82 per cent of the volume; these shares will remain broadly unchanged in 2029. Asia is the largest, led by China with its strong manufacturing base and export market as well as growing domestic consumer demand for packaged goods.