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MODEST GROWTH IN
EUROPEAN CONSUMPTION IN 2012
FINAT
LABELSTOCK
STATISTICS
SUMMARY
Data for the FINAT labelstock statistics are collected by
Panteia, an independent market research agency from The
Netherlands. They cover the nine leading European materials
suppliers for a total of 30 European countries including
Russia. The contributing companies are estimated to
represent an overall market share of over 90% of total
European consumption. The 2013 figures include minor
statistical corrections of historical data to reflect the impact
of new entrants over the years on regional and material grade
comparisons.
THE
LONG
VIEW
2012 was an important benchmark for the European self-adhe-
sive label industry. Last year, total labelstock consumption of
5.78 billion m2 doubled the estimated 2.84 billion published
by EPSMA for 1996, the base year of our data set. However, it
took the industry about 7 years to reach the halfway mark of
this journey, and from 2003 onwards (the fist year of the
FINAT Labelstock statistics) it took almost 10 years to add the
other half of the overall increase. This clearly illustrates the
decelerating growth pace of the industry. See chart 1.
This deceleration is also demonstrated by chart 2, which shows
the slowdown in year-by-year growth rates between mid-2005
and mid-2008. This slowdown was mitigated by the higher (but
also descending) growth rates for filmic label materials. From
mid-2008 onwards, the industry trend is severely disturbed by
the global crises, with a dramatic downturn in 2008-2009 being
‘corrected’ by an excessive upswing in 2009-2010 and the ‘double
dip’ in 2010-2011. Signs of modest recovery in the first half of 2012
have been slowed down by signs of a prolonged recession in
several European countries as part of government measures to
balance budgets and restore confidence in the Euro.
In 2012, demand for self-adhesive label materials in Europe amounted to 5.78 billion square meters, a growth of
1.7% compared to 2011. With a market share of around 45%, self-adhesive consolidated its lead as the dominant
labelling technology in Europe, ahead of wet-glue (40%), sleeving (7%), in mould (3%) and other technologies
(5%). The linear growth pattern of around 5% year after year that lasted until the middle of the last decade has
however disappeared. Evidently the label industry did not escape the impact of the global financial and econo-
mic crises. But not only that: with consumption levels reaching maturity in Western Europe, self-adhesive
demand has become more sensitive to the volatility of consumer behaviour. But there are two ‘counter forces’:
innovations in the filmic label domain and the on-going evolution of Eastern Europe continue to offer significant
upward potential.
Chart 1
Chart 2
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FINAT YEARBOOK
2013
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