Innovation, legislation drive anti-counterfeiting packaging technologies market

THE GLOBAL anti-counterfeiting packaging technologies market will expand at a 12.8% CAGR from nearly $74.2 billion in 2015 to hit $135.6 billion by 2020.

A new report from BCC Research titled Anti-Counterfeiting Packaging Technologies in the Global Pharmaceutical and Food Industries (FOD042C), which examines anti-counterfeiting packaging technologies in the global food and drug industries, said market growth will be fueled by recent legislative platforms, emerging regulatory and industry requirements, and the increasing sophistication of product counterfeiters. The main challenges for the industry's key players will revolve around the ability to enhance the security features and functionality of their anti-counterfeiting technologies.

The udated report, which analyzes growth, size, and opportunities for different products and technologies, and includes forecasted trends and revenue through 2020, focuses on two broad categories. These are the  authentication packaging technologies, which cover packaging inks and dyes, holograms, watermarks, and taggants, and track and trace, which comprises bar codes and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.

Authentication technologies comprise the larger segment in terms of sales and continues to grow faster. BCC Research forecasts sales will reach 42.6 billion in 2015 and $96.4 billion in 2020, with CAGR reaching 17.7%.  The track and trace technologies sector will reach about $8 billion during the forecast period, hitting $39.2 billion by 2020 at 4.5% CAGR.

In terms of regions, North America is predicted to become the largest market for anti-counterfeiting packaging technologies by 2020 with a 55.5% share of global sales. The region will account for 59.9% of global sales this year on account of the large share of the packaging bar-code market. By 2020, end use of anti-counterfeiting packaging technologies in the food industry will likely represent 66.7% of global sales.

BCC research analyst Rebecca Fron noted the current and upcoming trends in packaging technologies.

"The observed trend toward individualized, convenient and portable packaging will fuel the demand for drug and food packaging, which in turn is projected to drive the demand for the appropriate packaging technologies necessary to secure all of those packages. As security features and unit-of-use requirements become more complex, authentication and track and trace technologies will begin to almost merge as both will be required to meet security and regulatory demands.”