North America Package Testing Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The North American package testing market is expected to register a CAGR of 10% over the forecast period, 2022-2027. The COVID-19 pandemic increased hygiene awareness among consumers in the country and motivated consumers to increase their spending on the home care and hygiene sector to prevent COVID-19 infections in 2020. ​The growing demand for liquid detergents has also been high, mainly from the hospitality and laundry sectors.​ This has increased the demand for packaging products and the tests that have been performed for different packaging.

Key Highlights

• The packaging of consumable products has witnessed a drastic transformation over the past few decades, with a higher focus on enhancing the shelf life to reduce the costs associated with damaged goods. This emphasis has created robust demand for effective package testing in the package testing market.
• For some products, package testing is mandated by regulations about food, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, etc. This might cover the design qualification, periodic retesting, and control of packaging processes. Processes might be controlled by various quality management systems, such as HACCP, statistical process control, validation protocols, ISO 9000, etc.
• Factors such as growing awareness and demand for sustainable packaging, growth of the retail sector with increasing demand for packed products, and the emergence of new technologies are driving growth. The requirement for a longer shelf-life of products helps drive the growth of the package testing industry.
• One of the prominent reasons for inappropriately large package size is the type of laboratory tests employed. Significantly harsh laboratory tests (ones that don’t accurately reflect the actual hazards found within the supply chain) can cause excessive packaging, thus increasing the logistics and packaging costs. If tests are overly harsh in certain respects and completely miss specific damaging inputs commonly found in distribution, it would result in high damage rates and excessive packaging, thus, resulting in higher costs.

Key Market Trends

Glass Segment Observing Gradual Growth

• With increasing applications of glass in the packaging industry due to various reasons such as low reactivity with the product, reusability and recyclability are growing and leading to an increase in packaging testing vendors as the glass used for packaging has to undergo various performance tests, such as capacity and headspace, coating assessment, impact resistance, external pressure resistance, thermal shock resistance, and vertical load resistance.
• These tests determine the product's suitability against relevant international, national, industrial, or in-house standards and specifications. They include tests for impact, thermal shock, internal pressure, vertical load, microwave, dishwasher, and other requirements.
• The increasing benefits of package testing throughout the product lifecycle are also driving the region's glass packaging testing market.
• Brands have long sought ways to enhance their products' shelf appeal, an area where glass is particularly well suited and is also experiencing popularity among consumers. In June 2020, Supernatural, the extrasensory home care brand focused on having the smallest carbon footprint in the industry, launched hand sanitizer in a glass bottle. The glass protects the product from toxicity when exposed to heat, unlike plastic, and also eliminates the single-use plastic waste caused by traditional hand sanitizers.

Food Among the Significant Factors for Market Growth

• Packaged food products, such as jams, mayonnaise, pickles, etc., are usually stored in bottles that are protected using various kinds of airtight plastic closures. With an increase in the working population, there has been a substantial increase in the demand for easy-to-cook and packaged food. According to Global Organic Trade Guide, organic packaged food consumption value in the region is expected to reach USD 21.39 billion by 2026. This is expected to fuel the growth of the plastic caps and closures market over the forecast period.
• With the outbreak of COVID-19, many working professionals and others have been depending on packaged food for safety purposes. According to International Food Information Council, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, around 36% of Americans claimed to have purchased the same or higher amount of packaged foods during the COVID-19 pandemic than before.
• The e-commerce industry led to the trend of online food delivery in the region, experiencing an upsurge due to the rising number of online food delivery platforms, enabling industry players to gain a more significant foothold by registering on such platforms. This has led to the increased usage of caps and closure for the effective packaging of food.
• The addition of nanotechnology in convenience food manufacturing has been playing a crucial role in improving critical functions, including preservation procedures, packaging methods, and finished goods processing. This technology is anticipated to play a significant role in increasing the use of containers for packaged food products in the near future.

Competitive Landscape

The North American package testing market is moderately consolidated, with a few major companies like TDDL Inc., Intertek, SGS, CSZ Testing Services Laboratories, CRYOPAK, Advance Packaging, and Nefab. The companies are continuously investing in strategic partnerships and product developments to gain a higher market share. Some of the recent developments in the market include:

• In October 2021, to further enhance its commitment to saving resources in supply chains, Nefab Group AB acquired Reflex Packaging Group, the world's leading company for sustainable thermoformed cushioning. Within the Nefab Group, Reflex Packaging will continue to function as a distinct entity.
• In July 2021, Intertek Group PLC, one of the prominent providers of Total Quality Assurance services, reported the acquisition of JLA Brasil Laboratório de Análises de Alimentos SA. JLA Brazil, established in Brazil, is one of the leading independent providers of food, agricultural, and environmental testing solutions.

Additional Benefits:

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

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