CFA reveals impact of health crisis on French aerosol industry
The total volume of aerosols in all categories filled in France in 2020 fell by 5.9% compared with the previous year. This was due to the Covid-19 health crisis in 2020, according to the Comite Francais des Aerosols (CFA), when overall aerosols production was 647 million units, falling from 688 million in 2019.
The drop was forecasted, although relatively, due to the filling of products in response to the pandemic.
The trade association says the French aerosol industry remains in a strong position in Europe and hopefully, statistics due out in September this year from the Fédération Européenne des Aérosols or European Aerosol Federation (FEA), will support this.
The crisis and lockdowns were responsible for the reduction of overall production in two categories: Personal Care, which reduced by – 8.4 % and represents 61% of the total filling of 396 million aerosol units in 2020, and the Household category, which represents 10% of total activity of 66.2 million units, decreasing by – 5.4 %. However, there were some increases in these categories. Personal Care aerosols under Other Toiletries including hydro-alcoholic products saw an increase of 194%. In Households, air fresheners went up by 11% and insecticides by 4.1%. Meanwhile, disinfectants, which are included in Other Household, increased significantly by 215%.
The Miscellaneous category remained stable. The Pharma/Vet segment dropped by -1.7 % and lockdowns impacted other sectors including automotive/cycle, paints/varnishes and technical and industrial products which reduced by – 3.1 %.
The CFA says 2021 will also be an exceptional year due to the worldwide health crisis. Globally, production numbers will probably be higher than in 2020, with the expectation of higher consumption especially for industrial and personal care products. It reports that the aerosol industry has proven to be dynamic and reactive, moving production towards sanitary products and this should be maintained. Society’s request for protection against Covid-19 virus remains, capacities are now optimised and therefore an increase in that area is expected in 2021.