2016 Total Packaging Market Size (million units):

53,954

2011-16 Total Packaging Historic CAGR:

5.2%

2016-21 Total Packaging Forecast CAGR:

3.9%

• The total Filipino packaging industry, sized at over 53 bn units in 2016, is expected to see strong growth.
• Food and beverage packaging continues to dominate packaging, but dog and cat food packaging presents a strong niche growth opportunity.
• Flexible packaging leads in size, and glass ranks second.

• As glass bottle packaging continued to be the most popular within the alcoholic drinks industry, this presented an opportunity for metal screw closures. While in beer, products in glass bottles are enclosed by metal crowns, growth of spirits and wine boosted demand for metal screw closures.
• Packaging reduction became a trend within home care in the Philippines against the backdrop of an improving economy. There was an upsizing trend within the home care industry, particularly in the category of dishwashing, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
• The booming growth of convenience stores accelerated in the last couple of years of the review period. The increasingly busy lifestyles of Filipino workers, matched with the preponderance of jobs that involve changing shifts, influenced growth of convenience stores, which typically offer smaller pack sizes of beauty and personal care products.

• Packaging legislation remains lax in most industries: In recent years the government has focused on more-pressing social issues such as waste management, employment, and the control of counterfeit and illicitly traded products rather than packaging regulations.
• Improved nutrition labelling is sought for food and non-alcoholic drinks: With the increasing health concerns of consumers, the government pushed forward with efforts to help consumers make healthier choices through packaging. The non-alcoholic drinks industry had a head start on nutrition labelling, as it had been mandatory since October 2014. Nutritional facts must reflect calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fats, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, sugar and protein in a food or beverage product. The Philippine Nutrition Label Act seeks to require the declaration of allergens in processed food on labels.

• Manufacturers actively promote re-use and recycling: Bearing in mind that waste disposal incurs costs, manufacturers are going beyond using returnable glass bottles to lower such costs. For instance, the sister company of San Miguel Brewery and Ginebra San Miguel, San Miguel Yamamura Corp, has been producing GLASSlite bottles that require fewer raw materials without reducing quality. Furthermore, the packaging company recovers broken bottles for re-use. Additionally, some companies, including Nestlé Philippines, have implemented their own recycling programs.

• Convenience drives packaging innovation: Increasingly busy and affluent Filipino consumers demand convenience. This trend is evident in the sales growth of soft drinks in PET bottles, which are easy to carry around and resealable, and the increasing popularity of single-serve sachets of instant coffee in flexible aluminum/plastic packaging. Additionally, the packaged food industry also showed an increase in the use of small pack sizes that are more attuned to the purchasing behavior of mass-market consumers, who tend to buy in small quantities more frequently.
• Premiumization through packaging design and labelling continues: Premiumization of packaging design and labelling has been a strategy for manufacturers to justify higher prices, particularly for alcoholic drinks. Within the beauty and personal care industry, the use of metallic colors to convey a certain look of high quality and modernity was evident in 2016. Home care brands also changed the artwork of labels to make them more appealing, particularly to younger consumers.