Freedonia Group, an industrial research company specializing in product analysis, market forecasts, and other various market share information, has recently conducted a study projecting fresh produce packaging to increase by 3.7%/year to close to $7 billion by 2024. This follows the growing demand by everyone from consumers to the food service industry acquiring produce coming in packaged form.
Some of the main contributors to increasing sales will include:
- Ready-to-eat (RTE) salads
- Pre-cut produce (generally stored in clamshell containers and etc)
Sales have sky-rocketed for some of these items during the pandemic because of various factors including the increase in grocery shopping, with more people cooking at home opposed to dining out. Consumers are becoming increasingly more likely to purchase pre-packaged goods steering away from bulk items that have been handled by others in the market, and need to be prepped and washed a bit more.
The sale of plastic containers for RTE produce has had a 5% increase during 2020. Plastic containers sales are projected to lead into 2024, compared to some of the other primary packaging categories, thanks to the protective qualities they offer for consumers.