Outstanding performance

The tube market is exceedingly stable despite the economic environment still being difficult following the financial crisis in 2008. After a slump in production in 2009, a year of crisis, etma member companies topped the ten-billion-tube mark again in 2010 and since then have reported moderate but constant growth. Coupled with the tube’s high degree of acceptability by consumers worldwide, this growth has given the European tube manufacturers a general air of confidence. In addition to the markets of eastern Europe, there are major growth opportunities primarily in the emerging economies of Asia and South America. Disproportionately high rates of growth should be possible there.

Over 40 per cent of the tubes produced in Europe are used in the cosmetics sector, with a little over 20 per cent each in the toothpaste sector and the pharma industry. Slightly less than ten per cent of tubes are used for foodstuffs, while household and industrial products account for smaller shares.