Aerosol market remains stable: COSSMA

5.4 billion aluminium cans in 2015

A total of 5.4 billion aluminium cans were produced in 2015,according to the member companies of Aerobal (International Organisation of Aluminium Aerosol Container Manufacturers) – a repeat of the previous year’s record result. In view of the very difficult conditions in 2015, this is a rather good achievement. After all, there was economic turmoil in China, Russia and some emerging countries; there were the enduring problems in Greece, Ukraine and above all the Middle East; there was the global uncertainty resulting from the development of the oil price, and there were some considerable fluctuations in exchange rates. Production in Europe and the USA, the dominant markets in terms of volume, was more or less at the previous year’s level. Australia also remained stable, whereas volumes in Africa declined slightly. Slight overall gains were reported in Asia and Central and South America, although some Asian and South American markets fell short of expectations. The body care products market accounted for the lion’s share of all cans produced, being unchanged at almost 80%. The household products sector is now responsible for over 10% of total production and managed to obtain growth.

Hair dyes can now be filled in aerosols due to new valve systems

According to Aerobal president Eric Frantz (CCL), there are new applications and improved production processes: “For example, innovative valve systems now enable aerosol cans to be filled with hair dyes. Due to the aluminium’s significant barrier and hygiene properties, the aerosol principle offers good opportunities to expand markets.” The producers of aluminium aerosol cans also believe they are well placed with regards competition with other materials. “Besides the wealth of unique functional properties that aluminium offers compared with competitive materials, the light metal’s high actual recycling rates offer additional benefits,” adds Frantz.

Weight reductions and optimised production processes

“Further weight reductions thanks to new aluminium alloys and optimised production processes also ensure that the environmental performance of the can is improved still further.” The member companies report very good utilisation of their production capacities. Further expansions of capacity are due to take place in the near future in order to create capacity for new applications and reduce delivery times to the benefit of customers. Thus, expectations for 2016 are cautiously optimistic: a moderate market growth is conceivable if the business trend worldwide is more or less normal.

AUTHOR: Gregor Spengler, Aerobal Secretary General, Head of Packaging at Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie (GDA), Düsseldorf, Germany gregor.spengler@aerobal.org www.aerobal.org

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