A new report from IndexBox, “U.S. Metal Can Market. Analysis And Forecast to 2025,” finds that the U.S. metal can market decreased by -2.2% to $12.6B in 2019, falling for the fifth consecutive year after two years of growth. Over the period under review, consumption continues to indicate a slight reduction. The market remains almost entirely supplied by domestic manufacturers. Despite its rapid growth over the last two years, the share of imports in terms of total consumption remains negligibly small, amounting to near 3%. The market, therefore, is not really an attractive destination for suppliers from abroad. In value terms, metal can production declined slightly to $12.4B in 2019 (IndexBox estimates). Over the period under review, production saw a perceptible reduction.

The long-term contraction from 2015-2019 is largely shaped by a sharp drop in oil prices in 2015. It caused a simultaneous decline in global prices for many commodities, including metals, leading to a decrease in raw material cost for the production of metal cans. Moreover, prices for polymer materials also dropped, making the competitive plastic packaging more affordable.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused most countries in the world to put on halt production and transport activity. The result will be a drop in GDP relative to previous years and an unprecedented decline in oil prices. Since production in many countries to some extent stops for several months, international transport was almost completely discontinued and domestic travel was minimized, oil demand fell sharply, which led to lower prices and heavy oil production cuts taking place. This drop in oil prices in 2020 made the competition with cheaper plastic containers more severe.

Visit indexbox.com for more information and to purchase the report.