Smithers forecasts steady 3.8% year-on-year growth for $44.8 billion printed packaging labels market

Sustainability and digital print innovation will power further growth in sales for printed sleeves and packaging labels, according to the latest exclusive market research from Smithers. 

Total market value in 2024 will reach $44.8 billion globally, according to data modelling available to purchase now in The Future of Printed Labels to 2029. Demand for labels in CPG sectors was impacted at the beginning of the decade by Covid-19, and through 2023 as converters ran down expanded inventories they had built up as a contingency. 

With stability returning to the market, Smithers forecasts that a +3.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR); will drive value in the sector to $54.1 billion, at constant prices, in 2029. Across the same period, the volume of printed labels will increase from 1.34 trillion A4 print equivalents to 1.66 trillion – representative of a +4.4% CAGR. 

Labels are a crucial component of packaging, providing essential information such as branding, ingredients, allergens for food products, use instructions, and product information for items like pharmaceuticals.

Flexo continues to print most long-run label jobs, with higher quality possible on sheetfed offset litho and gravure. Digital processes (inkjet and electrophotography) are well established in the narrow-web segment, but still only account for only a small percentage of contemporary output.

Digital print is well suited to capitalize on multiple emergent market demands for shorter print runs, quicker turnaround, versioning of labels, and brand owner SKU diversification. This gives it a much higher share of value – 21.6% in 2024. Narrow-web analog OEMs are facing this threat with increased automation to provide process improvements, including faster job set-up and plate changes, as well as increased use of fixed color palette printing. 

Still, growth for digital print will outstrip those for analog through to the end of the decade. Narrow-web printing on digital equipment is still slower than on high throughput flexo lines, but is increasingly competitive once streamlined workflow and job management are factored in.

The arrival of more hybrid machines – pairing a digital print engine with analog print stations and in-line finishing units – will provide enhanced versatility for print service providers. As this evolution occurs, inkjet will overtake toner as the preferred digital print method for labels. 

Of the five label formats tracked in this Smithers study, the fastest growth will be in pressure-sensitive labels and sleeves; with future demand for wet glue, in-mold labels more muted. Print volumes for multi-part tracking labels will continue to fall rapidly across the remainder of the decade.

Both sleeves and pressure-sensitive formats are benefitting from pack sustainability mandates, which call for lighter weight polymer stocks, label films with post-consumer recycled content, and solutions that separate more easily from the base material during recycling processes. 

This will happen alongside moves to improve the marketing value of labels, via new graphic and embellishment techniques, greater interactivity and security markings. Label production is also responding to the arrival of more advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software in label design and layout, as well as boosting uptime though enhanced quality control and inspection functions on press.

Beverages and food products are the largest end-use segments for printed labels, with a combined market share in 2024 of 64.9%. Growth in both these end-use segments is healthy, benefitting from new regulations requiring more data on ingredients, allergens, nutritional data, and recyclability on labels.

For medical device and pharmaceutical packaging extra complexity is being adding by the need for label to carry unique product identifiers, and 2D data matrix codes, to enable supply chain traceability and protect against counterfeiting. 

The Future of Printed Labels to 2029 from Smithers, combines in-depth analysis of the latest technical and market developments to expertly track historic, current and future demand for printed labels by volume and value. Its comprehensive dataset containing over 350 data tables and figures, segments the market by: 

• Label type: Pressure-sensitive, Wet glue, In-mold labels, Multi-part tracking, Sleeves 
• Print process: Sheetfed offset litho, Heatset (web) offset litho, Coldset (web) offset litho, Flexo, Gravure, Screen, Letterpress, Electrophotography, Inkjet 
• End use markets – Food, Beverages, Healthcare, Cosmetics, Other consumer, Industrial, Other 
• Geographic and leading national market: Western Europe, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, UK, Other Western Europe; Eastern Europe, Russia, Poland, Other Eastern Europe; North America, Canada, US; Latin America, Brazil, Mexico, Other Latin America; Asia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Other Asia; Middle East, Türkiye, Other Middle East; Africa; Australasia