Market Trends U.S. Label Shipments to Grow Nearly 5% Through 2006
Technologies ranging from reduced space and two-dimensional bar coding to plateless digital printing will open a range of new labeling applications. Advances in label substrates, adhesives and coatings will also be important in this regard. Preventing even faster growth will be a cooling U.S. economy and maturity in key label applications. Competition from direct labelless printing will also hold down gains in applications such as mailing, primary packaging and corrugated box labeling.
These and other trends are presented in Labels, a new study from The Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based industrial market research firm. While paper will remain the leading label stock, plastics will continue to make inroads. Advances will be based on the aesthetic and performance advantages of plastic labels; the growing use of plastic packaging; and the popularity of labeling methods such as pressure-sensitive, in-mold and shrink, which rely heavily on plastic substrates. Oriented polypropylene will exhibit the fastest growth among the major label resins, further supplanting polyvinyl chloride. Paper labels, however, will be adversely affected by changes in the U.S. packaging mix, which will negatively impact metal cans and glass containers.