Aluminum foil packaging development prospects

The use of aluminum foil is very wide, the experts according to their different characteristics, it is divided into more than 20 varieties. Due to the differences in economic development level in different countries, the consumption structure of aluminum foil also has a big gap. In developed countries in Europe and the United States, aluminum foil products for packaging account for 70% of the total demand. In the Chinese market, aluminum foil is mainly used as raw material for industrial manufacturing. Aluminum foil only accounts for 30% of the total domestic demand. Although the development of foil packaging late, but the rapid growth of the market, the prospect of concern.

Aluminum foil production and the development of aluminum foil packaging

1.1 aluminum foil production development

China's aluminum foil production started in 1932, but it did not begin to develop rapidly until the reform and opening up. Since the 1990s, the production of aluminum foil has entered an important period. Not only the introduction of large quantities of advanced equipment, but also the production management and technological development have also gradually become modernized and internationalized. Since the beginning of this century, aluminum foil production capacity has been rapidly boosted by the strong market demand. At present, there are more than 90 aluminum foil production enterprises in China, equipped with 66 modern aluminum foil mills and 39 multi-purpose cold-rolling mills, with a total capacity of 500,000 tons / year of aluminum foil.

Development of foil packaging

Foil packaging began in the early 20th century when aluminum foil was used as the more expensive packaging material for high-end packaging only. 1911 Swiss confectionery company began to use aluminum foil packaging chocolate, and gradually replace the popular foil. In 1913, the United States started to produce aluminum foil based on the successful aluminum smelting. It is mainly used for high-end products, life-saving products and chewing gum packaging. In 1921 the United States developed a successful composite foil board, mainly used for decorative panels and advanced packaging folding cartons. 1938 heat-sealable aluminum foil paper available. During World War II, aluminum foil as a military packaging material rapid development. 1948 Molded aluminum foil container packaging food. 1950s, aluminum paper, aluminum-plastic composite materials began to develop. By the 1970s, with the maturity of color printing technology, aluminum foil and aluminum-plastic composite packaging entered a period of rapid popularity.

Entering the 21st century, the trend of market competition and product homogeneity has stimulated the rapid development of product packaging. In 2002 the global packaging market has more than 500 billion US dollars. The basic development of aluminum foil packaging and the development of the industry simultaneously, in the Chinese market, the rapid development of aluminum foil packaging, there are two main reasons: the front, the development of flexible packaging market in China and developed countries, the gap between the proportion of daily consumer goods and food packaging proportion Small, developed countries have accounted for more than 65%, and some have more than 70%, while China accounted for about 15%, the rapid increase in the proportion of the past two years; Second, the domestic aluminum-plastic composite, aluminum paper composite technology continues to mature, lower production costs, Promoted the popularization and application of aluminum matrix composite materials in China's packaging market.

The current situation of foil packaging market

After nearly a century of development, aluminum foil has become a major packaging material, its market development in Europe and the United States regional maturity, but in the Chinese market, foil packaging also has broad prospects. Following the aluminum foil in the flexible packaging of the main market for analysis.

Medical packaging foil

In 2002, the output value of the global pharmaceutical packaging industry was nearly 11 billion U.S. dollars, with an average growth rate of 4%. China's pharmaceutical packaging market output value of about 1.8 billion US dollars, an average annual growth rate of more than 10%. Aluminum foil is mainly used in blister packaging in medical packaging. Blister packaging is mainly made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and 0.02mm thick aluminum foil. Blister packaging has become the leading Western medicine tablets and capsules packaging. China's traditional Chinese medicine tablets, powders, capsules, pellets and other packaging, is gradually from paper bags, simple plastic bags, glass bottles into aluminum-plastic blister packaging. Blister packaging with moisture-proof, easy to carry, safety and health, etc., with the drug release technology, the market will be more broad. Currently blister packaging demand for aluminum foil more than 7,000 tons, is expected in 2005 will exceed 10,000 tons.

Another important aluminum foil market is the production of aluminum plastic easy tear film (SP), there are currently more than 1,000 such production lines, aluminum foil demand of 3,000 tons / year. In addition, the ointment packaging aluminum-plastic composite hose, liquid, injection aluminum plastic composite bottle caps are also two potential consumer aluminum foil market, the current total demand for aluminum foil more than 1,000 tons.

There is also a potential market for the use of aluminum foil in the pharmaceutical industry, namely pharmaceutical aseptic packaging. At present, only a few domestic enterprises produce aseptic packaging herbal tea such as herbal drinks, there is no development of aseptic packaging agent proprietary Chinese medicines. This new area will be an important potential market for foil flexible packaging.

Food packaging foil

China's food industry is in an important period of vigorous development. The advent of food flexible packaging has greatly enhanced the mechanization and automation of food processing and accelerated the modernization and socialization of people's diet. In developed countries, the main use of soft food and beverage packaging, while the development of China's flexible packaging is relatively lagging behind. Aluminum foil in food packaging applications are mainly two: one is aluminum or aluminum composite paper packaging; the other is aluminum, plastic, paper multi-layer composite packaging, that Tetra Pak packaging. China's food packaging aluminum foil demand of about 30,000 tons / year. The main areas of application of aluminum foil are: 1) chocolate, candy packaging. At present, China's chocolates basically use aluminum foil packaging, and their market demand is increasing with the expansion of China's chocolate consumption market. There are two kinds of candy packaging situation, one is aluminum-plastic composite or aluminum paper composite packaging, there is a use of aluminum foil or a single plastic packaging; 2) convenience food, cooked food packaging. Such as instant noodles, local specialty foods. With the development of food commercial market, the demand for this kind of packaging is getting bigger and bigger, and the development prospect is very optimistic. 3) The packaging of dairy products. At present, milk powder is mainly used aluminum-plastic composite packaging, and liquid milk products are mainly packed in aluminum foil cartons. The geographical difference in our country is large and the distribution of the dairy products in an irrational distribution area provides a vast market for aseptic packaging of aluminum foil. At the same time, there is huge room for development of dairy products in China. It is estimated that the per capita consumption of dairy products will reach 10 kg by 2005, with the total output reaching 13.5 million tons. The demand for dairy products will reach 7,000 tons per year for aluminum foil. 4) Tea, coffee, etc. A considerable part of the product using aluminum-plastic composite packaging, which is also an important market for aluminum foil packaging.

From the market trends, fresh produce and natural food (drink) products will become an important development of China's flexible packaging market. Such as: fruit juice drinks and other beverages in 2005 will reach 22.6 million tons, of which the demand for flexible packaging of aluminum foil more than 7,000 tons, vegetable juice drinks and condiments processing industry in the next 5 years, will also be greatly developed, the more such products Good packaging will be aluminum foil aseptic packaging.

Toothpaste packaging composite hose

Aluminum-plastic composite hose with excellent barrier properties, strong corrosion resistance and good printing adaptability, it is widely used in toothpaste, cosmetics and packaging of some industrial products. For toothpaste packaging, aluminum-plastic composite pipe in 2002 has completely replaced the traditional aluminum tube packaging. China toothpaste output 3 billion / year, toothpaste packaging demand for aluminum foil 3,000 tons. In addition, the demand for aluminum-plastic composite hose in other areas also increased to varying degrees, such as: health care products, cosmetics, condiments, industrial supplies.

Aluminum foil packaging development prospects

The development of aluminum foil packaging is closely related to the progress of composite materials technology. Composite materials are divided into the grassroots, functional and heat sealing layer: the grassroots mainly from the beautiful, printing, moisture and other functions; functional layer mainly from the barrier, dark and so on; heat seal layer and packaging items in direct contact, adaptive, Permeability, heat sealing and other functions. With the development of primary materials and composite technology, the function of aluminum foil packaging will continue to improve.

Development of packaging materials

The development of packaging industry is an important symbol of cultural development and scientific and technological progress. Since the 1950s, the rise of composite materials has led to the revolution in the field of packaging. With the continuous development of composite materials technology, various emerging composite materials are currently emerging, which have an impact on the application of aluminum foil. For example: 1) Because aluminum foil packaging food can not be directly processed by microwave, there has been a recent high-barrier microwave food packaging material, that is, a thin layer of silicon oxide is coated on plastic substrates to make the material have high barrier properties, Permeability and transparency, suitable for high temperature cooking, microwave processing and other food packaging, but also for beverages and edible oil packaging, but the high cost of production of such materials, large-scale production technology is not perfect; 2) nano-packaging materials into Rapid development period. Nanotechnology is the younger 21st century science and technology, also considered the 21st century more promising packaging technology. At present, nano-packaging is still in the development stage, less practical application.

In addition, various new concept packaging materials have appeared in the market. Due to the excellent performance and relatively low cost of aluminum foil packaging, none of these new materials currently form a large-scale market and have a substantial impact on aluminum foil packaging. However, the development of aluminized composites is an important trend in the current and future years. It will be used as an alternative material for traditional rolled aluminum foil instead of aluminum foil material in some markets.

Aluminum packaging development

Since the 60s of last century, the aluminized film has been applied to the packaging industry. In the 1980s, it has been rapidly developed in North America and Europe. Since the early 90s of last century, aluminum-plated packaging has been introduced in our country. However, it has not been developed rapidly in recent years. Aluminum in China, the development of the packaging industry is divided into three phases: the first stage is mainly aluminum-coated stickers; the second stage is as a product packaging and flexible packaging; the third stage is as cigarette liner paper.

As a product packaging and flexible packaging. Aluminum used in flexible packaging is mainly to replace the monolithic plastic and paper, thereby increasing the isolation of packaging products and visual impact, while a portion of aluminum foil packaging aluminum material is replaced. With the development of aluminum production, especially the multi-layer composite technology matures, aluminum foil packaging materials will have a greater impact.

in conclusion

Aluminum-based composite materials will replace more single materials, widely used in all kinds of flexible packaging. The advent of some new concept packaging materials will have an impact on the use of aluminum foils, but for a period of time aluminum-based composites have a comparative advantage in cost and performance. Composite flexible packaging will be more to replace the rigid and semi-rigid container packaging, the market space from the paste, block, particles, powder products to liquid semi-liquid, gas-containing products; from consumer goods to military products. At present, there are more than 4,000 flexible packaging enterprises in China and the annual production capacity of composite membranes is over 1.5 million tons. With economic development, China will become the world's major packaging buyer market. Aluminum foil packaging development prospects are very broad.