Take a minute and examine the top of the next soda bottle, drug vial or toothpaste tube you purchase. Odds are that it’s sealed with a plastic cap or other kind of plastic closure device. Stands to reason: plastic caps and closures rule the packaging market. Demand for plastic caps and closures is expected to rise 4.0% to $9.5 billion by 2014, topping 275 billion units.

That’s heady news for the injection plastics industry. Plastic caps and closures, which represented 79% of unit demand in 2009, will see above-average unit and value increases, due to penetration by plastic containers into many new markets. Plastic cap and closure demand is benefiting by the on-going migration in consumer packaging toward plastic containers and away from metal and glass.

Moreover, the compatibility of plastic caps with glass containers and the use of such caps on paper-based beverage cartons will boost growth as well, according to the latest figures. However, the not-so-good news is that gains will decelerate from the stratospheric 1999-2009 performance, reflecting the already deep penetration of plastic containers in most markets.

Further market inroads will come from the greater use of costlier dispensing closures and child-resistant closures. Even more gains will come from the continued spread of single-serving containers, especially in the beverage market, and the growing use of plastic containers for products which heretofore were sold in glass and metal containers.

Drink containers, which form more than 50% of demand, are the lion’s share of the market for plastic caps and closures. However, by 2014, beverage containers will trend downward, driven by lower consumption of soft drinks, beer and bottled water. This will be ameliorated, though, by faster-than-normal growth in plastic packing for the pharmaceutical industry due to expanding older demographic groups. Also driving growth will be governmental regulations concerning child-resistant, senior-friendly and security-related packaging.

So here’s to you, plastic cap! You are indeed ubiquitous and moving rapidly toward omnipresence!

Learn more about plastic caps and closures. Stop by Advantech Plastic’s website and see what this plastics company can do for you.