Growth in the global packaging machinery market is expected to reach an estimated $42.2 billion by 2021, up from $36.8 billion in 2016, according to the infographic "A Look at Packaging Around the World" from PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. 

The infographic forecasts the 2021 market by region: Asia Pacific coming in at $15.5 billion, Europe, Middle East, Asia (EMA) at $14.1 billion and The Americas at $12.6 billion. 

Several reasons for this global expansion cited in the infographic include:

• Population
• Growing middle class
• Heightened sustainability concerns
• More spending power in developing regions
• Increased popularity of flexible packaging (specifically pouches)
• Demand for smart packaging (QR codes and augmented reality) 
• Serialization (62 percent of medicines purchased online are fake and substandard) 

While food is the largest industry sector at 40 percent and beverage is the second largest industry sector at 30 percent (all other industries account for the additional 30 percent), pharmaceuticals is the fastest growing sector, coming in with a CAGR of 4.1 percent. 

In 2016, filling and dosing machinery was the leading machinery group, accounting for 20.7 percent of the total market ($7.6 billion in revenue) while labeling, decorating and coding machinery was the second largest, with 12.6 percent of the overall market ($4.6 billion in revenue).

The machine groups forecast to have the highest growth rates from 2016 to 2021 are:

• Horizontal form, fill and seal (3.2 percent CAGR)
• Fill and seal (3.1 percent CAGR)
• Labeling, decorating and coding (3.0 percent CAGR)

Download the full infographic below.