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In the same year that the major drinks and plastics industry exhibitions, drinktec and K 2013, take place, PETnology Europe has asserted its place as the industry’s leading communication platform. Its 16th edition which was held on 15-17 September, attracted 150 visitors from as far away as India, South America and Australia.
A wide range of topics covering the entire PET value chain drew interest in 34 presentations across nine sessions, from material manufacturing to preform and bottle production, to filling, paletting and recycling.
In his welcome speech, Professor Otto Appel, managing director of hosting PETnology/tec PET GmbH from Regensburg, summarised the key topics that concern PETnologists in all sectors: “Costs, quality and sustainability have been our concerns for some years now, and will certainly continue to keep us on our toes in the future. There is still a lot of work to be done.”
This is especially true considering that the PET market is continuing to grow overall, as Rosemary Downey from Euromonitor International Ltd, states. After flexible packaging, PET bottles are already the second most important product in the international packaging market today. Some 406 billion bottles were sold in 2012 and an increase of 4.4% is expected for 2013. The comparably low growth in Western Europe, which stood at an average of 2.6% from 2007 to 2012, is compensated by the enormous increases in Asia, which amounted to over 9% during the same period. Mexico, Russia and Indonesia are also strongly emerging regional markets.
RTD tea, dairy consumption on the rise
In terms of the products, Euromonitor observes that in addition to soft drinks and water, ready-to-drink tea and dairy products are certainly clearly on the rise. Juices, sports drinks and spirits in PET bottles are also popular, whereas beers in unbreakable bottles were only able to gain regional acceptance. According to Ms Downey, PET bottles also have growth potential in the areas of baby food and concentrates for household products, such as detergent and washing up liquid.