Introduction:

Since Mintel's previous report on this subject, published in June 2000, the market value for consumer food and drink packaging has grown only slowly, by 2%, to an estimated value of £6 billion. The three main factors restraining growth in the food and drink packaging market are commercial pressures to reduce the costs of packaging, legislation encouraging manufacturers to reduce packaging, and consumer concerns about excess packaging. It is also a highly competitive industry.

While Mintel's exclusive consumer research for this report shows that more respondents than in 2000 believe that food and drink has excess packaging, it also shows that consumers are more willing than in 2000 to buy products with interesting and attractive packaging. More respondents than in 2000 also hold the view that packaging is important to project a product's image.

This report therefore examines the hypothesis that - "the challenge to industry is to optimise the consumer pull of innovative and attractive packaging, while minimising the amount of packaging that is used."

Report coverage:

This report offers you new insight into:

- Market sizes and trends

- Market drivers

- Supply structures

- Market shares

- Product distribution

- New product briefs

- Advertising and promotion

- Consumer attitudes and purchasing trends

- Future trends

- Five year sales forecasts

Other related reports include:

- Wine, Market Intelligence - UK Report, January 2003

- Children's' Packed Lunches, Market Intelligence - UK Report, December 2002

- Boxed Chocolates, Market Intelligence - UK Report, December 2002

- Ambient Desserts, Market Intelligence - UK Report, July 2002

- Cakes, Market Intelligence - UK Report, June 2002

- Milk and Cream, Market Intelligence - UK Report, March 2002

- Cake Bars and Cereal bars, Market Intelligence - UK Report, February 2002

- Appetisers and Dips, Market Intelligence - UK Report, August 2001

- Bottled Water, Market Intelligence - UK Report, June 2001.

Definitions

This report examines the UK market for food and drink packaging in relation to consumer products. This includes outer and inner packaging purchased with products, but excludes packaging used for bulk transportation, industrial purposes, or display and collation in store.

The data refer to the value of UK 'fillings' and do not include imports or exports. Market values for 1999 onwards have been revised from Mintel's previous report, due to the availability of new data. Value figures throughout this report are at Manufacturer Selling Prices (msp) unless otherwise stated.

This report does not follow the usual format of Market Intelligence reports, due to the nature of the industry. For example, the large number of suppliers in this industry means that it is not applicable to include a section on the supply structure or manufacturer/brand share data.