Global PET market to reach US$ 60.3 billion by 2032
As per the latest report by Imarc Group, the global PET bottle market size reached US$ 44.1 Billion in 2023. Looking forward, the market is projected to reach US$ 60.3 billion by 2032, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3% during 2024-2032. The market is influenced by the global effort to reduce plastic accumulation in landfills and lower carbon footprint, along with demand for recycle PET bottles, and availability of innovative PET bottles that are designed to support utility and increase sustainability.
The report has segmented the global PET bottle market based on capacity, distribution channels, colour, technology, end-use, and region. In terms of capacity, medium capacity bottles are the most used variants because of their versatile applications. The distribution channels are split into business-to-business (B2B) and retail categories, which include supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores, online platforms, and others. The B2B segment currently captures the largest share of the global PET bottle market.
Colour-wise, end users favour transparent PET bottles as the leading segment, closely followed by coloured variants, reflecting consumer preferences for the visibility of contents and aesthetic appeal. Technological advancements have led to the usage of diverse manufacturing processes including stretch blow moulding, injection moulding, extrusion blow moulding, and thermoforming, among others. Stretch blow moulding technology leads the field, favoured for its efficiency and the quality of bottles it produces.
The end-use of PET bottles spans across several industries such as packaged water, carbonated soft drinks, food bottles and jars, non-food bottles and jars, fruit juice, beer, and more. Packaged water dominates, indicating significant consumer demand for bottled water products. Geographically, the Asia Pacific region stands as the largest market, driven by high consumption rates and extensive production capacities, holding a major share of the global market.
Trends and Drivers:
Escalating demand for recycled PET: The demand for recycled PET (rPET) is propelling PET bottle businesses to launch sustainable product variants. This is mostly because of increasing environmental concerns among the masses and stringent regulations revolving around plastic usage and waste management. As claimed by the global recycled plastic market report by Imarc Group, the industry is projected to reach US$ 61.7 billion by 2032 at a CAGR of 4.3% during 2024-2032. The report further finds that rPET represents the most widely recycled plastic type. Consequently, key market participants are utilising rPET into their manufacturing processes to cut carbon emissions and appeal to environmentally concerned consumers. This increase in demand is mostly being driven by developments in recycling technologies, which are enhancing the quality and cost-effectiveness of rPET, making it a viable option to virgin PET.
Innovation in bottle design: Rising innovations in PET bottle design to enhance usability and sustainability is promoting market expansion. Manufacturers are developing lightweight and long-lasting PET bottles that utilise less raw material in the manufacturing process. The concept of design optimisation can be applied, for example, to better the attractiveness of PET bottles. In addition to the convenient characteristics, such as improved barrier capabilities, personalised forms, and intelligent packaging technologies, features may also be customised to suit business trends and demands. For instance, in March 2024, the Coca-Cola Company introduced new lightweight PET bottle designs across its sparkling beverage portfolio in the US and Canada. The company expects these new and unique designs to minimise the use of new plastic by 800 million bottles (approximately) in 2025. The transition focuses on supporting the company’s World Without Waste goals, which include making all packaging to be recyclable by 2025, using 50% recycled content by 2030, collecting a bottle or can for each one produced by 2030, and reducing virgin plastic that is obtained from different nonrenewable sources.
Advancements in production process: Market players are setting high budgets for research and development (R&D) activities and employing advanced production technologies for PET bottles to stay competitive and retain their overall market share. For example, an innovative packaging solution company, Sidel, launched its newest quality control technology for PET bottles, IntelliAdjust, in the end of January 2024. This technology works within a ‘closed loop’ system and relies on interferometric sensor technology for ensuring perfect material distribution and high production uniformity in order to support production of bottles with rPET content. Besides these advantages, it also eases maintenance of consistent bottle quality in several production conditions like workshop temperature along with relative humidity.
