Latin America Active and Intelligent Packaging Market

Latin America Active & Intelligent Packaging Market Analysis

The Latin America Active and Intelligent Packaging Market is expected to register a CAGR of 5.2% during the forecast period.

• With the growing urban population and changing lifestyle trends worldwide, the demand for ready-to-eat, frozen meat, and packaged food is increasing. The supply of frozen foods, meat products, vegetables, and fruits surpass boundaries, giving regional markets global exposure. Moreover, with the retail industry propelling rapidly, the need for attractive and advanced packaging is also increasing.
• The increase in counterfeit products, especially in the pharmaceutical and personal care industries in emerging economies, also compelled companies to use technologies, such as RFID, during packaging. All these factors account for a substantial rise in the demand for active and intelligent packaging. However, the initial capital needed due to higher costs of installation and implementation and security issues regarding these systems is challenging the market's growth.
• RFID is one of many automatic identification technologies that offer some potential benefits to meat production, distribution, and retail chain. These include traceability, inventory management, labor-saving costs, security, and the promotion of quality and safety. The prevention of product recalls it is also considered a key role of RFID technology. Thus, it acts as a major driving factor for the increased demand from the customers for such products for packaging.
• Although intelligent packaging is distinctly different from active packaging, the features of intelligent packaging enable the user to use it to check the effectiveness and integrity of active packaging systems, bringing added features and complementing each other. Intelligent packaging can be considered the enabler of the other packaging features that end-user industries can utilize, and in the process, help their customers offer quality products.
• Furthermore, the introduction of revolutionary industry 4.0 and the spread of the pandemic has increased the use of connected packaging powered by various software such as Microsoft Azure cloud services to benefit the retailers/e-tailers, brand owners, and food manufacturers in the region. This is driving the market studied.

Latin America Active & Intelligent Packaging Market Trends

Longer Shelf Life and Changing Consumer Lifestyle is expected to drive the market

• Consumers have been demanding products with extended shelf life and easier usage. This has necessitated the companies to develop alternate packaging solutions. Shelf life has been an important aspect of the product. Companies looking to expand their product offerings with less dependency on sophisticated cold storage chains have become imperative to produce packages that provide longer shelf life.​
• The shelf life can be increased by protecting the products from potential deteriorating agents, such as oxygen, moisture, and microbes. In order to protect their products, companies need a packaging solution that can achieve the same and is also cost-effective. Reducing wastage throughout the food supply chain is likely to become a crucial activity to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture and serve the increasing food demand. Therefore, investing in efficient, low-cost, and sustainable processing and packaging solutions to increase the shelf life of products (especially dairy, baby food, and nutraceuticals) is a viable solution, thus augmenting the requirement of active and intelligent packaging.​
• Changing lifestyle and the consequent dependence of consumers on processed, packaged, and precooked food is increasing the demand for active and intelligent packaging solutions. The advent of the supermarket culture has also altered the landscape of shopping and has increased the need for packaging, especially in food and beverage products. The altering lifestyle of people has resulted in the shift from home-cooked to ready-to-eat products. In addition to this ease of use, these products should also be packaged in such a way to ensure they are fresh and uncontaminated.
• In the past few months, consumers have been witnessed stocking up on shelf-stable goods owing to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Technological advancements such as active and intelligent packaging materials and production processes have led packaging designers to produce packaging products and methods that increase the shelf life of the products.​
• Moreover, intelligent packaging solutions such as RFIDs and NFcs can be incorporated into any packaging material such as plastic, fiber, virgin fiber, among others. Such flexibility increases the adoption in the market studied.

Food is One of the Significant Factor for Market Growth

• According to the Brazilian government, by the year 2021, the retail sales in packaged food in Brazil are anticipated to reach USD 116.6 billion, a growth rate of 32.2% since 2016. High growth rates in the forecast include ready meals, breakfast cereals, baby food, sauces dressings and condiments, processed meat, and seafood and soup. Such growth rates are expected to increase the demand for active and intelligent packing solutions.
• Based on the material types, the packaging market in Argentina is categorized into four segments: plastic, paper, aluminum foil, and cellulose packaging materials. Thus intelligent packaging such as the RFIDs and NFCs can be included to track the products from transport to storage by consumers that are concerned amind the pandemic. Further, one of the major players in Argentina is Amcor. The company allows tracking of food products through RFID and NFC technology. This is indicative of the growing demand for technology-infused packaging in the region.
• The companies involved in food processing and agribusiness (Tyson, Bachoco, Driscolls, Sunny Ridge, etc.) also require better and greener packaging technologies than the available ones. Baked and salted snacks are also showing strong growth, providing extensive opportunities for flexible packaging manufacturers in Mexico. The salted snacks product group, including potato chips, tortillas, and corn chips, is the most significant product segment. Also, a greater reliance on ready-prepared nutritious foods drives the packaging market in the snack product segment in Mexico.
• Furthermore, Brazil is witnessing increased food delivery applications that allow personnel to order food at doorsteps. The increase was witnessed amid the pandemic, and various initiatives such as the non-contact deliveries are driving the use of applications. Thus the need for intelligent packaging increases as it allows customers and understand how the package arrived at their doorstep and enables them to know that the product is safe to consume.

Latin America Active & Intelligent Packaging Industry Overview

The Latin America Active and Intelligent Packaging market is moderately consolidated, with a few major companies like BASF SE, Amcor Ltd, Honeywell International Inc., Landec Corporation, Bemis Company Inc., Crown Holdings Inc.Ball Corporation, Timestrip UK Ltd are some players. The companies are continuously investing in making strategic partnerships and product developments to gain more market share. Some of the recent developments in the market are:

• May 2021 - Four04 Packaging Ltd was identified as an ideal partner for Coveris' strategic growth plans through a continuous market screening procedure. Packaging for fresh food and fruit, as well as bread, is a specialty of the company. It offers a product portfolio that ideally complements Coveris' existing product lines in these markets.
• May 2021 - A new thermoforming packaging solution has been developed by Sealed Air. When compared to commonly used laminates, Sealed Air claims that the new CRYOVAC brand LID830R is a thin, high abuse resistance, anti-fog top lid film that can reduce packing weight by up to 50%.

Latin America Active & Intelligent Packaging Market Leaders

Latin America Active & Intelligent Packaging Market News

• September 2021 - The company has long announced the investment of USD 150 million to expand the radio-frequency identification (RFID) production capacity in Brazil for food, healthcare, and personal care products amid the increased demand. However, in 2021 the company announced that it would start operations by the end of 2022 with additional investments in technology to increase the production capacity by 30%.