Global Barrier Films Market is Growing at a Significant Rate in the Forecast Period 2019-2026

Drivers: Global Barrier Films Market

Demand for Longer Shelf Life of Food Products

Barrier films are a packaging solution which are made of multi-layer flexible films and are coated with the different resins and lacquers to provide desired results in packaging of the material.

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The common concern in the food industry is to protect food from any external and internal damage and to enhance its shelf life. The quality of food products deteriorate with the time and affect the flavour, taste, colour and texture of products. The quality of the product changes with the intrinsic parameters such as pH, preservatives and water activity along with extrinsic parameters such as temperature, humidity and gaseous environment.

The rise in the production of packaged food such as milks, confectionaries, baking products, beverages, preserved meat, waffles, preserved juices and many more are enhancing the utilization of the barrier films in their strict packaging, and leading the expansion of the business by manufacturers in the different region such as,

• According to the Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada, in 2016, the consumption of packaged food service in Morocco was 825.0 per thousand tonnes.
• According to the United States Department of Agriculture, in 2015, there were 42,030 food processing and 499 beverages producing enterprises in Turkey and by the end of 2016 there were 577 foreign direct investments in food and beverage production; 100 of these were from Germany, 44 Netherlands, 33 France and 31 from the U.S.
• According to the Plastics Europe (the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe) and EPRO (the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations) in 2015, 49 million tons of oil and gas was used in the production of plastic that comprises 4.0% to 6.0% of total amount, in which 40.0% plastic was used in the packaging.

Hence, growing launches of new barrier films and increasing production of packed food in various countries is leading to the growth of the barrier films in the forecast period.

Rising Demand of Multi-layer Packaging

The multilayer films utilize materials with specific properties to provide a precisely engineered barrier solution against water vapor, oxygen and ultraviolet light. The nano multi-layer barrier films provide extended shelf life to the packaged food as compare to other films, which helps to avoid wastage of food and also reduces the environmental costs.

Enhanced work performance and continual application in the field of packaging & development of multi-layer films is leading the manufacturers to develop different types of multilayer films for different purposes such as,

• In April 2018 – Charter NEX Films (U.S.) launched GreenArrow, a multilayer barrier film, which has a film solution, environment friendly packaging, and recyclable properties and, provides moisture and oxygen barrier properties
• In January 2017, DIC Corporation (Japan) announced their development of dry laminating adhesives. The PASLIM VM is incorporated with the properties which enhances the prevention of moisture and oxygen and are used by the multiple overseas manufacturers

Hence, rising application of the multi-layer films in industrial applications for the packaging of various products and equipment’s along with the incorporation of properties of different polymers in the multilayer films is fuelling the growth of the market in the forecast period.

Restraints:

Susceptibility to Degradation

The application of the barrier films in the food packaging and agricultural sector is growing tremendously. The multi-layer barrier films are used in the agri-food sector that comprises specific feature such as EVOH and PA layers, and are produced with different percentages of stabilisation.

Various methodologies have developed to investigate the mechanical behaviour of multi-layer films and the photo degradation nature of the films, which is observed while exposure to the light leading ageing of the films. The low ductility nature of the barrier films affects the mechanical property and their aging.

The stabilised multi-layer barrier films have shorter life span than the multilayer with the PE films without barrier layers. It has been observed that the use of barrier layers in the agriculture and food packaging industry shows detrimental effects of mechanical properties and their durability.

Rising consumption of the synthetic food packaged barrier films enhances the serious ecological problems due to their total non-biodegradability. Continuous awareness towards the environmental pollution requires safe and eco-friendly biodegradable components which are extracted from the renewable agriculture feedstock and food industry wastes.

Hence, concern associated with the fast degradability, shrinkage of synthetic packaging and also less bio degradability of the synthetic packaging materials is restraining the growth of the market in the forecast period.

OPPORTUNITIES:

Growing demand of bio-based barrier films

The application of the barrier films in the food packaging for their protection and raw materials, from oxidation and microbial spoilage enhances their life span. Rising consumption of the synthetic packaging films in different industries such as construction industry, automotive industry, chemical industry and agri-food enhances the waste obtain from the packaging and leads to the serious ecological concern due to their total non-biodegradability. Hence leading the growth of the bio-degradable barrier films used in the packaging made up of bio degradable materials, such as graft copolymerization and polymer cross-linking made up of natural polymers with the synthetic monomers are alternatively used in the biodegradable packaging of barrier films.

Various manufacturers and market leaders have collaborated and developed bio based barrier films to prevent ecological issue associated with the barrier films for instance,

• In June 2018, Sukano AG (Switzerland) collaborated with the Eurotech Extrusion Machinery, Nippon Gohsei and NatureWorks, to develop transparent bio based barrier films. The collaboration leads to the development of the barrier films which will enable the manufacturers with the usage of coextruded film structure and replaces the conventional fossil fuel-based films used in the food packaging.
• In January 2018, AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre (Spain) announced its coordination with the REFUCOAT to develop and work on food packaging materials. The respective project will develop bio plastic materials and barrier coatings, which will be used as an alternative to the aluminium based structures.

Hence rising development and collaboration to develop bio based barrier films is considering the environmental issues associated with the synthetic barrier films as a major opportunity to enhance the market in the forecast period.

CHALLENGE

Recycling of Multilayer Films

High consumption of the barrier films produces high amounts of packaging waste, which is the major concern for the environment. Various type of barrier films are utilized such as single layer and multi-layer barrier films in the food packaging, protective covering and in many more industrial applications.

Polymer based multilayer barriers files that are used in the packaging are engineered to provide high performance by the incorporation of a different layer of polymers. This incorporation tailors the functionality of the packaging which is created to protect sensitive food products and thus obtain extended shelf life.

But the tailored products have poor recyclability because most multilayers are usually incinerated or landfilled, counteracting the efforts towards a circular economy and crude oil independency.

Various methods are designed for the recycling process which includes two to three steps of recycling that consumes high energy. Few of the multilayer barrier film packages such as liquid packaging boards (LPBs) recycling processes are developed in delamination process, whereas for polymer based multilayer films and their recycling process, it is not developed yet which will be challenging the development of the market.

• In July 2018, DSM (U.S.) and APK Technology Co., Ltd (China) working together to form a multilayer food packaging films with the aim to reduce the food waste. The products are recyclable via APK’s new recycling route.

Problem associated with the recycling of multilayer films such as critical process of recycle and high energy consumption in the recycling process is hampering the growth of the market in the forecast period.

Major Players: Global Barrier Films Market

Some of the major players operating in this market are TEE GROUP FILMS, Winpak Ltd., ProAmpac, Fraunhofer, Huhtamaki, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, JINDAL POLY FILMS, Mondi, PLASTISSIMO.COM , Uflex Ltd, Cosmo Films Ltd. and others.