In the entire African continent, the food industry market in South Africa, the industry leader, is relatively developed. With the increasing demand of South African residents for packaged food, it has catalyzed the rapid growth of the South African food packaging market and promoted the development of the South African packaging industry.
At present, the purchasing power of packaged food in South Africa mainly comes from the upper-middle income class, while the low-income class mainly buys staple foods such as bread, dairy products and fats. Statistics show that 36% of South African low-income households spend on foods such as cereals, bread and rice, while higher-income households spend only 17% of their food expenditures.
With the increase in the number of middle class in African countries represented by South Africa, the demand for packaged food in Africa has also increased, and at the same time, it has catalyzed the rapid growth of the African food packaging market and promoted the development of the packaging industry in Africa.
At present, the use of various packaging machinery in Africa: the type of packaging machine depends on the type of goods, plastic bottles or jars are used for liquid packaging, polypropylene bags, plastic containers, metal containers or cartons are used for powder, and solids are used Cartons, granular materials use plastic bags or cartons; wholesale products use cartons, barrels or polypropylene bags, retail products use glass, plastic, foil, tetrahedral cardboard boxes or paper bags.
From the perspective of the South African packaging market, the South African packaging industry has achieved record growth in the past few years as consumer food consumption and end-market demand for beverages, personal care and pharmaceutical products increase. The South African packaging market reached US$6.6 billion in 2013, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.05%.
The changes in people's lifestyles, the development of the import economy, the formation of packaging recycling trends, technological progress, and the transition from plastic to glass packaging will all become important factors affecting the development of South Africa's packaging industry in the next few years.
In 2012, the total value of South Africa's packaging industry was 48.92 billion rand, which contributed 1.5% of the output value of South Africa's GDP. Although the glass and paper industries produce the largest packaging volume, plastics contribute the most, contributing 47.7% of the industry’s output value. At present, in South Africa, plastic is still a relatively popular and economical packaging type of choice.
South African market research agency Frost&Sullivan said: The expansion of food and beverage production is expected to drive consumer demand for plastic packaging. It is expected to increase to US$1.41 billion in 2016. In addition, as the industrial application of plastic packaging has grown after the global economic crisis, it will help the market maintain demand for plastic packaging.
In the past six years, the use rate of plastic packaging in South Africa has increased to 150%, with an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7%. South Africa's plastic imports increased by 40%. Expert analysis shows that South Africa's plastic packaging market will grow rapidly in the next five years.
A latest report from the PCI Consulting Company predicts that the demand for flexible packaging in the Middle East and Africa will increase by about 5% annually. In the next five years, economic growth in the region will encourage foreign investment and pay more attention to the quality of food processing. Among them, South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt are the largest consumption markets among African countries, while Nigeria is the most dynamic market, with its flexible packaging demand increasing by about 12% in the past five years.
The rapid growth of the middle class, rising demand for packaged food, and increasing investment in the food industry all make South Africa's packaged products market promising. The development of the South African food industry not only drove the increase in demand for food packaging products in South Africa, but also catalyzed the increase in imports of food packaging machinery in South Africa.
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