the metal packaging market | France

1.1 Definition and scope of the study

Metal packagings refer to steel and aluminium packagings, such as cans or tins, which preserve foods, hygiene products, beverages, etc.

The metal packaging market is divided into several players: mineral and petrochemical producers (bauxite, soda, carbon), suppliers (steel, aluminium), packaging producers, end users (industry, trade, transport-storage). In this study we cover the latter three categories. 

The global metal packaging industry is expanding in size and sales, amid the attratcive features of metals in terms of durability, space efficiency, preservation, and recyclage. Nevertheless, metal packaging holds a fairly small share in overall packaging (12.2%), which implies that the material has great potential for expansion going forward. [all4pack] This development is most likely going to come from developing economies and Asia, where India for example is looking to increase usage of aluminium cans from 5% to some 25% in 2030.

In France, the market is stable, yet metal packages hold an even smaller share (6.5%) of all packages compared to the global average. Despite the fact that France held more than 10% of the European metal packaging market in 2016, it is still only the fifth largest geography. [MPE] The nation is also falling behind on recylcing levels of metal packaging, a point which is crucial in order to increase the attractiveness of the industry. However, going forward, France has set ambitious targets of improvement in this context.

Finally, the French market is concentrated, with two foreign firms (Crown and Ardagh) accounting for more than 60% of sales. Due to the fact that prices in this market are determined externally (depend on the commodity prices of steel and aluminium), France is dependant on China which largely controls the two.