ENDUSER: PACKAGING: Tape Sales Continue to Increase

U.S. pressure-sensitive tapes demand to reach $5.7 billion in 2008

Picture source: Interstate Bakeries Corp.

U.S. sales of pressure-sensitive (PSA) tapes are projected to increase 4.2% per year to $5.7 billion in 2008, spurred by economic recovery and a rebound in durables manufacturing and nonresidential construction. Advances will be driven by material enhancements that will continue to enable tapes to widen their scope of use by supplanting alternative joining and bonding systems in industrial assembly, packaging, and other applications. Further expansion for the aggregate tape market will be restrained by maturity in significant product categories, such as transparent tape and electrical tape. These and other trends are presented in Pressure Sensitive Tapes, a new study from The Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based market-research firm.

The strongest prospects exist for various technical and specialty tapes, including backed double-sided, adhesive-transfer and single-sided electronic products. Backed double-sided tapes are finding greater use in high-growth industries such as electronics and telecommunications. Performance advantages and new product development will also support above-average growth for adhesive transfer tapes. Single-sided electronic tapes will benefit from a projected recovery in the electronics industry.

While gains will trail the market average, corrugated carton sealing will remain the largest single product category for pressure-sensitive tapes, accounting for 17% of demand in 2008. New end uses will be less prevalent, as this tape is already the dominant box-sealing method, making further inroads increasingly difficult to procure. However, product development efforts aimed at tapes with value-added features, such as tamper evidence, will somewhat stimulate growth opportunities.

Among raw materials, tapes fabricated from higher-end plastic films, such as polyester, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyamide and polyimide, will continue to supplant cloth and paper tapes, as well as commodity film-backed tapes. These higher-end plastic films will benefit from their durability and high temperature resistance, along with usage in relatively fast growing niche applications, such as electronics and industrial assembly.

For more information, contact Corinne Gangloff, The Freedonia Group Inc., 767 Beta Drive, Cleveland, OH 44143-2326; phone (440) 684-9600; fax (440) 646-0484; e-mail pr@freedoniagroup.com ; or visit http://www.freedoniagroup.com .