Bulk Container Packaging Market Size By Product (Flexitanks, Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container [FIBC], Bulk Container Liners), By Application (Food & Beverage, Chemicals), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019 – 2025

Bulk Container Packaging Market Size

Bulk Container Packaging Market size was over USD 3.4 billion in 2018 and will grow at a CAGR of over 10% over the projected period.
 

Bulk container packaging market is anticipated to be largely driven by rising demand from food & beverage and chemical industry. Increasing flexitank demand in bulk non-hazardous chemicals and food ingredients transportation is the major factor likely to trigger the overall industry size over the projected timeframe. Flexitank offers value added advantage over other counterparts such as drums or barrels, ISO containers and intermediate bulk containers (IBC). High capacity ranging from 14,000 liters to 24,000 liters, low filling time and lesser number of operators requirement are some benefits provided by flexitanks. In addition, it also entails very less installation and loading time. These tanks are suitable in transporting edible & animal oils, glycerin, wine, fruit concentrates, syrups, malts, food additives, paints and inks. Furthermore, these containers can be transported by road, sea and rail. Also, for shipping non-hazardous liquid products, flexitanks are preferred due to its added advantage such as high payloads, low weight, more space, low contamination risk and environment-friendliness.
 

Price dynamics of bulk container liners, flexitanks, and flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC) are unstable as petrochemical derived products such as polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE), therefore the industry follows similar price dynamics. Fluctuating petrochemical prices will subsequently hamper the product price trends by 2025. However, increasing oil, beverages such as wine & beer and fruit juices demand in BRIC nations will substantially propel industry growth over the forecast timeframe. For instance, total export commodities from China was roughly around USD 1.5 trillion in 2007 and reached USD 2.5 trillion in 2014. This escalating will subsequently create growth avenues for the industry participants by 2025.
 

Bulk Container Packaging Market Analysis

Flexitank segment will witness highest gains over the forecast time period. These tanks are an alternative to ISO tank containers for shipping oils, wines, food grade liquids and nonhazardous chemicals across the globe. Traditionally, transporting and storing liquids has been expensive and complex. However, flexitank offers a more agile and cost effective approach for storing and transporting liquid and dry bulk products.
 

Flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC) accounted for major chunk of the global bulk container packaging market share in 2018. These containers can carry more than thousand times its own weight and can also be customized as per its application. The industry growth for this segment is mainly attributed to increasing product demand for transporting building materials, polymers, detergents and powdered non-hazardous chemicals. It is available in a wide variety of conductive, antistatic, flame retardant and dissipative bags which serves a wide range of packaging applications. In addition, increasing industrial production and its efficient transportation will boost the business growth significantly by 2025. Also, these containers also have excellent recycling and reconditioning possibilities which will further boost its demand across the globe.
 

Food & beverage accounted for more than 30% of the global industry size in 2018. Rapidly growing population mainly in Asia Pacific and the Middle East has significantly triggered food product demand at low cost. Increasing socio-economic factors and changing spending patterns in emerging economies has substantially propelled tea, coffee, wine and beer demand. These trends will in turn boost import/export activities in food industry to transport products without contamination, which will complement business growth by 2025.
 

Bulk container packaging market share for chemicals is anticipated to expand at over 10% CAGR by 2025. Increasing demand for transporting semi-finished products, lubricants, materials and minerals will propel industry growth. In addition, drifting chemical manufacturer focus towards setting up their manufacturing facilities in Asia Pacific on account of easy raw material availability, favoring government policies and low operational cost has increased chemical trade to meet the propelling chemicals demand across the globe. According to World Integrated Trade Solutions, China exported chemicals worth USD 14 trillion to North America and worth USD 39 trillion to East Asia and Pacific in 2017. These trends are likely to continue which will positively impact the industry growth rate by 2025.
 

North America led the overall bulk container packaging market size in 2018 with gains of over 9.5% expected in the forecast timeframe. The regional growth is primarily driven by increasing corn, oilseeds, grains such as soybean, and feeds demand from the U.S. Furthermore, one third of the total agricultural land in the U.S accounts particularly for exports. The region is engaged in exporting alcoholic beverages including beer and wine globally in large volume. According to Wine Institute, the U.S. exported wine worth USD 1.18 billion to Hong Kong in 2018, with gains of over 9% from the previous year. Such trends are expected to complement business growth by 2025.
 

Asia Pacific will witness gains close to 11% over the forecast time period. Rising population primarily in China and India has substantially propelled the overall food & beverage business in the region. Furthermore, upgrading consumer lifestyles in Asia Pacific countries, due to increasing consumer disposable income has triggered demand for the fruit juices, wine, beer and coffee. In order to meet the growing demand for aforementioned food products in the region, the production and supply for food products are on rise, which will have positive influence on the industry growth over the forecast timeframe.
 

Bulk Container Packaging Market Share

The overall bulk container packaging market share was highly consolidated in 2018, with three producers accounting for over 50% of the overall share. Some of the key manufacturers are:

• BLT Flexitank Industrial Co. Ltd
• Shandong Anthente New Materials Technology
• Braid Logistics
• KriCon
• Büscherhoff Spezialverpackung
• Environmental Packaging Technologies
• K Tank Supply Limited
• Qingdao LAF Packaging
• MY Flexitank (MYF)
• SIA Flexitanks
• Trust Flexitanks
• Qingdao LAF Packaging
• Trust Flexitanks.
   

Major product manufacturers including BLT Flexitanks have presence across multiple stages of the industry ecosystem. In addition, various product manufacturers are involved in introducing products with eco-friendly features to gain an edge over its competitors. For instance, SIA Flexitanks are manufactured from 100% virgin VLDPE polyethylene. Therefore, the used flexitank is distressed, cleaned and re-processed into pellets which can further be used to manufacture new items.
 

Industry Background

Rising edible oil exports from Southeast Asia and growing bulk wine trade globally will boost industry growth by 2025. Moreover, higher performance levels in terms of cost and operations of flexitanks over other substitute products available in the industry will further complement industry growth in the coming years. However, volatile crude oil price trends may hamper industry growth rate size by 2025, as the industry follows the similar price dynamics. Based on the product, flexitank is anticipated to be the fastest growing segment by 2025, on account of its superior traits as compared the prevailing counterparts in the industry. Regionally, North America accounted for the maximum share in 2018 due to its enormous food trade business spread across the globe.