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, reported FINAT, the trade association of the global self-adhesive labelling industry.
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 economic 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.
