The glass packaging market is set to grow in the next 10 years. However, glass packaging is facing increasing competition from rival packaging materials that are stronger, lighter and cheaper to manufacture and transport, as experienced in many of the glass packaging submarkets. Glass is up to seven times heavier than the equivalent volume of plastic, a significant difference. This means that glass packaging is more expensive to transport than rival materials, and glass' brittleness also added increased risk to transporting glass packaging. Visiongain's (visiongain.com) assessment is that the glass packaging market will reach $39.4bn in 2014.

The growth of plastic pouch packaging is the largest threat facing the glass packaging market in the short run. Plastic pouch packaging offers increased convenience compared to glass packaging, as portions are often premeasured into individual servings. Plastic pouch packaging is also much less brittle than glass equivalents, meaning that the packaging will not shatter if accidentally dropped and broken. Plastic pouch packaging also uses significantly less packaging than its glass packaging equivalent.