Following a lively 2016 election and the early activities of the Trump administration, many questions surround the short-term future of the United States economy. While outlooks have been mixed, the International Monetary Fund recently predicted the U.S. economy to expand by 3.4 percent in 2017 and 3.6 percent in 2018. This growth will further support an expanding U.S. packaging market. PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies recently released a report, “Global Trends Impacting the Market for Packaging Machinery,” examining the packaging equipment shipments. According to the study, the estimated value of the world packaging machinery market is projected to increase at a 2.6 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to $43.7 billion by 2019. The U.S. currently represents the largest national market for packaging machinery at about 17 percent of the current global value, which is roughly $38.5 billion.
We spoke with Charles D. Yuska, president and CEO, PMMI – the owner and producer of the PACK EXPO Portfolio of Trade Shows – to discuss the outlook for the North American processing and packaging industries as well as the trends and challenges that will influence the activities of consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs) and suppliers alike.