PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2015

MARKET SURVEY 14 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 10/15 www.petpla.net For PETplanet Insider, 2015 has been the year of the North American Road Show. We’ve travelled through North America in our Editourmobil, visiting firms that have found their niche in PET packaging. At the same time we have been looking at the entire chain of development from the raw material to the filled PET bottle. Our journey started on the east coast of the North American continent, in the Canadian city of Halifax, and finish near the west coast of Canada, in Calgary. In between, we embarked on a cross-country tour of the USA, with the first stage destination being the NPE Show in Orlando, Florida. Market survey: USA & Canada by Waldemar Schmitke Part 2: The United States of America (USA) The United States of America, with a total land mass covering 9,857,306km² is the world’s third largest country. It is a little smaller than Canada, half the size of Russia and 2½ times as larger as Western Europe. The landscape is highly diverse, with forested areas and low mountain ranges along the eastern coast, man- grove forests in sub-tropical Florida, the river systems of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, the wide plains in the middle of the country, the great chain of the Rocky Mountains, the dry deserts of the south-west, the temper- ate rain forests of the north-west and the mountain ranges along the shores of the west coast. In addition, there is the arctic region comprising the tundra in Alaska and the tropical islands of Hawaii with the 4.170m high volcano, Mauna Loa. Of the 50 US federal states, all with the exception of Hawaii lie on the North American continent. Apart from Alaska and Hawaii, the remaining 48 states and the District of Columbia are situated within a common border and form the heartlands of the United States. The heartlands are located between the 24th and 49th parallels north and between the 67th and 125th meridians west and are divided into four time zones. Alaska and Hawaii, together with the territories politically affiliated to the United States (for example Puerto Rico and Guam), lie outside this zone. The 48 contiguous states are bor- dered in the north by Canada and in the south by Mexico. In the east lies the Atlantic Ocean and in the west the Pacific. The land mass extends some 2,500km from north to south. The distance between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans is around 4,500 kilometres. The USA has political borders with Canada and Mexico. The border with Canada has a length of 8,893km (2,477km of which lie between Alaska and Canada), the border with Mexico has a length of 3,326km. The length of the coastline is 19,924km. Capital city Washington, D.C., city: approximately 658,000 inhabitants, metropolitan area: 5.95 million inhabitants State area 9,857,306km² Population 320 million inhabitants (2015), of these 39 million are African-Americans, 50.5 million Americans are of Latin- American descent, 14.7 million Americans are of Asian descent, and 3 million Americans are Indian descent Population density 33 inhabitants per square kilometre, 82% of the population reside in urban areas Language English, locally also Spanish State form Federal and presidential republic, separation of powers and system of checks and balances Administrative structure Federal state with administrative systems at federal, state, county and municipal levels Economy The USA’s status as the world’s strongest economic powerhouse, generating around one fifth of world revenues annually, is founded on its extensive national territory (covering almost 10 million km 2 ) which is rich in raw materials and has been efficiently developed. A further underlying factor is its large scale domestic market (2015: approx. 320 million inhabit- ants, gross domestic product 2014: US$17.74trn) as well as an economic and financial system characterised by initiative and free trade. The US ser- vice sector generates approximately 77% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), whilst the industrial sector accounts for approximately 22%, and the agricultural sector contributes 1%. In 2014 the US economy suc- ceeded in recovering momentum. With a growth rate of 2.4% (GDP),