What Does Global Trade Data Reveal About Plastic Bottles Imports?

As per the World Trade Organization statistics, the international plastics and containers market was valued at $166.78 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach over $225 billion in five years from now. Furthermore, the same statistics reveal that the growth rate will remain around 6.49% from 2020 to 2025.?

Despite the debate regarding its performance on the sustainability scale, plastics continue to remain a popular packaging material among customers due to their lightweight, ease of handling and manufacturing, and durability. Due to the same reason, manufacturers worldwide, including European giants like Roechling Medical, regularly export plastic to high-demand countries like the U.S. 

Factors That Make Plastic Widely Imported Material

Apart from its ease of use and cost-effectiveness, there are several reasons why plastic is here to stay on the import list of the countries:

  1. Innovations such as polyethylene terephthalate and high-density polyethene have steered the global plastics bottles market towards fast-paced growth. Therefore, plastic bottles buyers worldwide are regularly presented with new and improved versions of products.
  2. The material loss in manufacturing plastic packaging products like bottles is minimal compared to any other plastic products. Moreover, the recyclability factor further adds to its wide popularity across the globe.
  3. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the global plastic bottles importers have paused their search for alternatives for plastic packaging products to cost and logistic challenges. Therefore, the surge in demand for plastic bottles is inevitable.

Key Predictions For The Future Of Plastic Bottles Import

The import-export data related to the plastic bottles trade generate exciting insights regarding the future of the global trade of the product as given below:

Beverage Sector On Driver?s Seat

The beverage sector is set to drive the global sales of plastic bottles, which is majorly due to the ever-increasing demand for bottled drinking water, bottled syrups, and non-alcoholic soft drinks. A majority of plastic bottle importers are packaged drinking water and soft drink manufacturers. Also, the increase in awareness against drinking regular tap water has increased the demand for packaged drinking water and mineral water.

Increasing Domestic Demand In Developing Nations

If we look at the past world import-export data, developed countries comprised the majority of plastic bottles imports globally. However, many developing nations with large populations are following the trend. With the increase in the use of bottled beverages, the need for plastic bottles is set to increase their domestic demands. The increased domestic demand will lead to a surge in the number of plastic bottle buyers from those countries.

Emergence Of New Players

As for the exporting nations, the plastic bottle importers, apart from being actively engaged with their traditional partners, also explore new trade opportunities with emerging manufacturers in the same field.

Industry Leaders To Retain Their Spots

For the mega manufacturers of plastic bottles like Roechling Medical, they are expected to retain their spot if they continue to import plastic bottles under terms and quality favourable to the exporters.

Asia Pacific: Centre Of Focus

In the climate summits of the past decade, we saw nations pledging to minimise the usage of single-use plastic as a step towards a sustainable future. However, due to the impact of the global pandemic and tariff wars on international trade, the companies might choose to stick with plastic packaging for a while, which could be another couple of decades.

Globally, we have mega exporters like the USA, whose domestic demand is expected to surge. The surge will be a direct consequence of thrust in the pharmaceutical sector along with foods and beverages companies.

Similarly, the plastic bottles markets of China and Japan in the Asia Pacific are expected to play a more significant role in steering the global trade of plastic bottles. The pharmaceutical sector of China is one of the largest in the world, primarily due to its ageing population, which accounts for large orders from this Asian nation.

Japan also has the fastest growing pharmaceutical sector after the USA, due to which the domestic demand for plastic bottles will increase, bringing an opportunity for global plastic bottle manufacturers.

What Will Give An Edge To Exporters?

Whenever there is a surge in demand, there is an increase in the global competition between the prominent players and the new ones who have their own goals to achieve. The traditional businesses want to retain their place in the market, and the new ones strive to establish theirs.

However, plastic bottles buyers don?t discriminate between the two types of businesses and enter a deal that suits their conditions. Therefore, an excellent approach to understanding the waves of global trade is by trusting the data intelligence tools which generate valuable insights for businesses, which can further help them take crucial managerial decisions.

It is expected to rain orders in the global plastic market in the coming decades. As a result, exporters who engage with trade data intelligence service providers will indeed have an edge above their competitors.