Latin America Active and Intelligent Packaging Market Trends

Market Trends of Latin America Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry

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.