Europe: the label industry regains momentum
Drawn up by FINAT in collaboration with AWA, Alexander Watson Associates, the report on the performance of the European labelling industry in the third quarter of 2024 shows a good recovery after 2023 and interesting prospects for growth in 2025
Self-adhesive labels
In the period July to September, the European self-adhesive labels market recorded an increase of 6.9% against the same period in 2023, reflecting a more modest growth compared to the beginning of the year. In terms of market demand, levels of orders began to slow down in mid-July, reaching the lowest point in the quarter in August, before recovering in September. All the key sectors (food, drinks, health, personal care and e-commerce) underwent a downturn due to the increase in prices and inflation pressures in Europe, which put a brake on the spending of consumers, oriented towards the purchase of essential goods. This had a significant impact on the demand for brand products and, as a consequence, on the volumes of sales of labels.
Glue-applied labels
In the third quarter the European glue-applied market also underwent a slowdown, growing nevertheless compared to the same period of 2023. The increase was driven by the solid performance of labels applied with wet glue, which recorded a +14.6% thanks to the positive trend of the sales of premium and non-alcoholic beer. The performance of wrap-around labels was much more modest (+1.7%), due to a fall in demand for bottled water and soft drinks.
Sleeve labels
A similar slowdown was seen in the heat-shrink sleeves sector, showing a timid +1.2%. The fall in purchases of single-serve, energy and soft drinks, reported also by the giants Nestlé and PepsiCo, is the main cause of the slowdown. According to FINAT forecasts, an upturn in this segment will probably occur in 2025.
In-Mould labels
The general crisis in Europe, worsened by the recession in Germany, had a significant impact on demand in the in-mould labels (IML) sector. In the third quarter of 2024, sales grew by just 0.5%, but the prospects for 2025 are more optimistic. Despite having recorded slowdowns in 2024, food remains the key sector for IML, followed by the industrial chemical products sector that, instead, showed a slight increase in demand. This is a trend that should drive growth in IML in Europe, as well as the increasing demand for mono-material packaging solutions, which makes them an interesting option for producers committed to complying with the more stringent environmental regulations.
