Market Trends of LA Packaging Automation Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Latin America Packaging Automation Market according to our research experts:
Food and Beverage segment to hold biggest operating expense
As technology advances to become more flexible and configurable, companies are improving logistics and quality. Automation will continue to transform food and beverage manufacturing companies throughout the supply chain and to their customer’s doors.
Consumer packaged goods companies need accurate and repeatable packaging processes. Individual packaging at high-cycle rates can be challenging, so companies that use robotics in their packaging lines can improve their throughput, efficiency, and quality. From raw product handling to primary packaging, secondary packaging, and palletizing, robotics has proven a high return on investment.
Packaging automation also involves greener solutions like recyclable, biodegradable, and refillable methods in the region. According to research conducted, Latin America has a low penetration for dishwashers, and hand washing is dominant where the plastic PET bottle is a dominant product pack and has increased its growth in terms of volume in this region.
Further, Coca-Cola company in Brazil invested in expanding the reuse infrastructure as part of its ambition to incorporate the design of reusable PET bottles and significantly expand reusable packaging by 2030. Universal bottle design for all brands significantly reduces cleaning, filling, and return logistics costs.
The meat industry and its by-products are an important sector on the continent. Companies are facing new challenges as more and more consumers are concerned about the origin and processing of meat. HPP technology allows obtaining high-quality raw or cooked products with a longer shelf life, opening up export possibilities to other countries.
Latin American consumers take on new horizons for cleaner additives, more sustainable, and easy to consume. In other markets, consumers are looking for more secure, sustainable, and safe packaging for the products purchased, and for that reason, companies are innovating new products with new technological innovations.
Mexico to grow significantly in the industry
Technological innovation, sustainability concerns, and attractive economies are some of the reasons packaging automation has grown significantly over the last few years in this region and the way consumers view and interact with packages is also changing.
- Mexico is moving towards modernization for its packaging technologies; considering the stability of the current economic, commercial and political situation and the expected growth of the country; it can be expected that packaging equipment imports will continue to grow in the near future.
- Growth is expected to be driven by key factors such as strong domestic and international demand and the interest of many companies to modernize their operations to improve efficiency and competitiveness.
- Several multinational companies and business groups using packaging machines have indicated that they will continue to invest in Mexico, understanding the impact of political decisions on their operations. Businesses are adapting to the country's realities, and for now, demand prospects and growth in Mexico are stable.
- The food, beverage, personal care, and pharmaceutical industries account for the majority of packaging machinery demand. A high proportion of young people and a growing middle class are driving food demand. The beverage sector performs particularly well in products such as soft drinks, bottled water, beer, and spirits, respectively.
- Further, in the pharmaceutical industry, despite the intensifying competition from generic drugs and low levels of new investments, the pharmaceutical sector continues to keep its sector competitive and in demand for packaging machinery.
