Drink cans strong as demand for aluminium drops
New figures have revealed a 4.6% drop in demand for aluminium packaging by German based manufacturers.
The figures show volume losses through 2012 with packaging manufacturers producing a total of 320,025 tons (t) down from 2011’s total of 335,490t.
The figures were released today (15 April) by Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie (GDA), a federation of product-oriented specialist trade associations working in the aluminimum sector, based in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Despite the overall gloom in 2012 the total number of aluminium beverage cans sold was almost 25% more than in 2011.
Aluminium aerosols, after several years of strong growth, also managed to keep up deliveries (2012: 30,873t) with a slender increase of 0.1%.
Christian Wellner, executive director of GDA, said “Numerous discount stores have decided to reincorporate cans into their product range and accelerated the comeback of the beverage can.
“However, beverage can manufacturers have noticed strong fluctuations in demand from customers outside of Germany, which have in turn had a negative effect on their delivery processes.
“Despite these fluctuations manufacturers are confident the positive trend will continue in 2013 because beverage cans are also yet again becoming more popular among consumers, above all in the segments of beer, energy drinks and soft drinks.”
However, the overall decline was down to the “general European economic crisis and the flagging export markets”, added Wellner.
“After a rather restrained trend of demand in the last quarter of 2012, which could be traced back to the increased running down of stocks among customers, the number of orders received in the first quarter of 2013 has, however, significantly increased.
“The fact that the economic climate remains unstable means that our industry is currently planning on a short-term basis.”
