A Long and Winding Road

At the same time, he offers a word of caution. “We must not think that growth in these geographies will impact North American and European printers,” he says. “Local capability—in both label and tag raw materials and printing—is growing fast.”

For the U.S. market, The Freedonia Group predicts relatively healthy growth in label shipments over the next few years. In its recent study, “Labels to 2011,” Freedonia forecasts the market to increase 5.1 percent annually, reaching $18.3 billion in 2011. Although pressure-sensitive labels will still account for the majority of label shipments, this category is seeing some erosion from other label application methods such as stretch and shrink sleeves. According to the study, the stretch/heat-shrink sleeve category will grow at a 7.7 percent annual clip through 2011 and will be driven, in part, by its inroads into the large beverage market.