The SABMIller/AB-InBev deal seems to go through. This is great but will obviously trigger a few consequences and produce both relative winners and losers. The packaging industry doesn’t necessary have to be one of the latter but it will definitely make things a bit more challenging.
Now this consolidation of the industry is in combination with a micro/craft brewery trend that grows seemingly all over the world creates a market place with two extremes.
The polarisation of the field will give the packaging industry a headache. On the one side we have a few really large customers with an impressive leverage and with logistical and geographical demands never seen before. On the other side we have the really small but rapidly rising producers with limited reach that each demands very few but special bottles/cans/kegs at the time.
These opposing customer demands will have to be addressed and solutions must and will be found. The craft breweries are growing and they have aggregated formed into a significant and fast growing market for kegs and bottles and an even faster growing number of cans. It would be a mistake to not support them with suitable packaging solutions that meets their needs. Even if all the action seems to be in the other end of the field right now…
Felix's Packaging Blog 