North America Soft Drinks Packaging Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The North America soft drinks packaging market is expected to register a CAGR of 8.95% during the forecast period of 2022-2027. The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the packaging industry, which has led to some of the sharpest declines in demand for certain types of packaging in recent times while accelerating growth for others. Several manufacturers in the country are witnessing an uptake in demand for cans and plastic bottles due to hygiene-based consumer perceptions surrounding the packaging materials.

Packaging plays an essential role in the soft drinks market. Efficient packaging solutions offer ease of use, disposability, and enhanced user experience. These benefits have led to the demand for packaging solutions for the soft drinks segment in the region. Another trend augmenting demand is new and innovative products that help manufacturers enhance their brand visibility while offering product differentiation.

With the trend toward healthier beverages threatening the growth of carbonated soft drinks, finding new and innovative ways to get consumers through packaging stimuli is crucial for packaging manufacturers and brand owners. However, the cost will still be the key ingredient to any new packaging feasibility.

Soft drinks are the second most-consumed drink after water, with plastic being the most used material for soft drinks packaging. Many beverage companies favor plastic packaging material for bottled beverages due to its lightweight, durability, and cost-efficiency.

Many plastic products are being recycled and reused in recent years. Also, the variety of plastics available for packaging, such as PVC, PE, PP, PS, PET, and nylon, is one of the reasons contributing to the market share of this segment in the region.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, out-of-home consumption of soft drinks, which historically generates the highest margin, has come to nearly a standstill due to growing concerns about maintaining hygiene and widespread lockdown. This is expected to bring long-term changes in customers' behavior and purchasing patterns, pushing the packaging industry to bring innovative solutions to meet the changing requirements.

Key Market Trends

The RTD Beverages Segment is Expected to Hold a Significant Market Share

Ready-to-drink beverages include tea, coffee, energy drinks, sports nutrition drinks, highly nutrient and flavored water, alcopops, and ready-made alcohol cocktails. These beverages are witnessing a significant rise in consumption in the region. Also, other beverages, like vegetable juices, bar mixes, and smoothies, are experiencing increased demand.​

Lately, ready-to-drink iced tea has grown considerably due to the increasing demand. Market vendors are offering specialized recycle packaging for ready-to-drink tea. For instance, Graham Packaging offers recyclable plastic packaging to provide longer shelf life for single-serve packaging. ​

Energy drinks are getting immense popularity among the region's millennial population. The principal reason for this popularity is significantly related to the aggressive marketing campaigns primarily directed toward young consumers. Moreover, advertisements promote that energy drinks refresh the body, ignite the mind, and enhance stamina and performance.

Owing to the increasing demand for cocktails in the US market, vendors adopt flexible beverage packages. For instance, buzzox, an American beverage brand, and Tetra Pak provide cocktails on the go using recyclable packages. The cocktails come in 200 ml recyclable Tetra Pak's packages, allowing the beverages to stay safe and taste fresh without using preservatives.​

Ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee is no longer a niche market segment in the studied region. Retail sales of RTD coffee have been growing, especially in the United States. Consumers are also more health-conscious nowadays; therefore, they opt for RTD coffee instead of high-sugar and carbonated beverages more often. Due to the additional health benefits that some cold-brew RTD beverages offer, the market is on the rise for these products, and they are seen as premium products.​

The United States Accounts for the Largest Market Share

• Consumers in the market are becoming increasingly conscious of health and wellness. From juice in the morning to energy drinks, they are spending more on the products that provide refreshments are well within the wellness trend. This trend has created a high demand for cost-effective packaging solutions in the fruit-based beverage segment.​​
• This demand for fruit juices and beverages is expected to grow decently over the forecast period. The use of packaging for these products improves the shelf-life. The recent new packaging method provides shelf-stable fruit juices.​
• Moreover, Fruit-based beverages aseptic packaging is a process in which containers, aseptic juices, and auxiliary packaging materials are placed in an aseptic environment. These beverages are filled and sealed with an aseptic filling machine. Fruit juice foods are usually sterilized at high temperatures and then reduced to 20°C to 30°C to attain aseptic requirements.​
• Additionally, aseptic packaging for fruit-based beverages includes plastic packaging with plastic layers. The aluminum layer protects the beverage from light and oxygen. As a result, the product can retain shelf life without cooling. To protect the plastic package against the moisture of the product and the moisture from the outside, a layer of polyethylene (PE) is applied on the inside and outside.​
• Further, Carbonated soft drinks are usually packaged in aluminum cans. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the supply of these cans in the early months of the pandemic, which highlighted the limitations of these cans. The can shortage made carbonated beverage producers look for new packages, specifically all forms of aseptic, enabling a long ambient shelf life.

Competitive Landscape

The North America soft drinks packaging market is moderately concentrated, shortly moving toward the fragmented stage. The key strategies adopted by the major players in the market are product innovations, mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships. Some of the major players in the market are Pactive LLC, Amcor Ltd, Genpak LLC, and Graham Packaging Company. Some of the recent developments in the market are:

• July 2021 - Liquibox and WestRock launched a Ships In Own Container (SIOC) bag-in-box solution for Amazon that delights consumers, reduces waste, and ensures that products arrive undamaged. Following rigorous performance tests, the new packaging passed the ISTA 6-Amazon.com-SIOC test in an Amazon APASS-certified lab and did not require additional protective boxes.
• January 2021 - Ball Corporation announced plans to build a new aluminum end manufacturing facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The facility is scheduled to begin production in early 2022 and expand over multiple years to create approximately 200 manufacturing jobs. The new Bowling Green, Kentucky, facility will provide aluminum end supply to Ball's expanding North American network of beverage can manufacturing plants.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

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