Latin America Package Testing Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

The Latin America Package Testing market is expected to register a CAGR of 6% over the forecast period (2021 - 2026). With the recent COVID 19, flexible packaging manufacturers have been flooded with a pool of issues that are expected to be only for the short -term. Some of the effects of lockdown include supply chain disruptions, lack of availability of raw materials used in the manufacturing process, labor shortages, fluctuating prices that could cause the production of the final product to inflate and go beyond budget, shipping problems etc.

Key Highlights

• Package testing is playing a prominent role in almost every supply chain in the Latin American region. Package testing ensures the business’s packaging is up to specifications and avoids costly product damage, legal situations, and poor user experiences. Packaging testing identifies opportunities in several areas such as savings on packaging costs, the performance of packaging materials in realistic environmental conditions and transportation scenarios, quality control insights, scalability of packaging, compliance issues, such as certifications, specifications, and regulations.
• Packaging plays an essential part in the protection of products. In Latin America, goods can be transported with ease as a result of its open borders. The products are transported by multiple means of transport such as road, sea, and air. They are subject to numerous external and environmental parameters that could damage their overall quality. As a result, several companies test their packaging before using them on their products.
• Factors such as growing awareness and demand for sustainable packaging, growth of the retail industry with increasing demand for packed products, and the emergence of new technologies are driving growth. Moreover, the requirement for a longer shelf-life of products helps drive the growth of the packaging testing industry.
• Recycling is a prominent concern for packaging companies, as they strive to reduce their carbon footprint and help the environment by reducing emissions. Such packages need more rigorous tests, as the product integrity cannot be compromised even when it is packed in recycled materials. Also, the increasing awareness about eco-friendly packaging, such as paper-based packaging, has further driven the usage of package testing to ensure that the package's integrity is not affected.

Key Market Trends

Demand for Longer Shelf Life of the Products Under Varying Conditions will Drive the Market

• The advent of globalization has necessitated the exports and imports of multiple goods in Latin America, driving the significance of assuring the shelf life and integrity of the packaging. Achieving long shelf life for various products can be accomplished with the right combination of packaging materials and technology. The combination of such suitable packaging materials can be identified with several package testing services offered by companies in the market.
• Packaging can help protect food from the various factors that may cause spoilage. Many kinds of packaging extend shelf life, and multiple packaging types that reduce food spoilage focus on safeguarding against different threats. Some of the ways packaging extending the shelf life include modified atmosphere packaging, vacuum packaging, proper gas permeability, physical protection, etc. Multiple companies in Europe that test barrier and permeation properties of packaging material are expected to benefit from the increasing demand for longer shelf-life products.
• Moreover, it’s becoming a significantly essential consideration for companies in the food and beverage industry to give consumers the confidence of a more extended expiration date. Ensuring a long shelf life aims to reduce food waste as brand owners provide more purchase and consumption opportunities. The role of packaging on food protection and shelf-life extension is even more critical when combined with other consumer demands as fresher food. The increasing need for the shelf life of such products is driving the usage of package testing in the food industry.
• For some products, package testing is mandated by regulations: food, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, etc. This might cover both the design qualification, periodic retesting, and control of the packaging processes. Processes might be controlled by various quality management systems such as HACCP, statistical process control, validation protocols, ISO 9000, etc.

Healthcare is One of the Factor Driving the Market

• The growing significance of modern packaging in the pharmaceutical industry has led the brands to adaption of advanced packaging test techniques to stand out from the rest of their competition and increase profitability.​
• The standard also defines the requirement for evaluating the package integrity and seal strength, and includes tensile testing, burst strength, dye penetration, puncture, and bubble emission testing, and tear resistance.
• With the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the region, there is a concerted effort to ensure vaccines are tested to ensure safety and that they meet stringent test standards and regulations, as they are administered in a number of ways, such as subcutaneous (SC), intramuscular (IM), orally, intradermal (ID) injections, and via the intranasal (IN) route.
• In addition to the testing of vaccine delivery devices, packaging that is being used to protect the vaccine also is supposed to be tested rigorously to ensure that sterile conditions are maintained up to the point of use and that the packaging provides physical protection for the vaccines.

Competitive Landscape

The Latin America Package Testing market is moderately consolidated, with a few major companies like TDDL, Inc., Intertek, SGS, CSZ Testing Services Laboratories, CRYOPAK, Advance Packaging, Nefab 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:

• Jan 2021 - IFP Institue for product quality announced that it also conducts active research in the field of method development in the field of immunological (protein / antibody-based), molecular biological (DNA-based), and mass spectrometric (protein / peptide-based) allergen analysis. It also manufactures immunological test methods in kit format to detect allergens through Romer Labs under the brand names Agrastrip and AgraQuant Plus.
• June 2021 - Intertek, one of the prominent players in Total Quality Assurance, has partnered with Globizz, a renowned Japanese-American medical device consulting firm, to provide regulatory advising, technical services, and strategic planning to medical device makers in Japan and the United States. The two firms' cooperation will provide experience and resources to customers in both regions for faster, more efficient market access, extending services for both companies, their existing customers, and others in the sector.

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