According to the materials the fruit juice packages adopt, there are 4 common packages: glass bottle(account for 30%), PET bottle(30%), aluminum can(20%), paper-plastic composite materials(10%).
Glass bottle package
Glass bottle is a package with long history. With more kinds of packages entering the market, it is less frequently used, but it remain as one of the most popular packages.
Glass bottles have the following advantages: non-toxic, odourless, transparent, beautiful, good barrier, airtight, rich in raw materials, low price, and easy to recycle.
Glass bottle is resistant to heat, low temperature, pressure, and cleaning. It is usually used for fruit tea, jujube juice, and those with high requirement on the containers.
Glass bottle has good barrier property, heat resistance, low cost, and convenience for recycle. It can meet the requirements of beer to prevent microbial pollution, carbon dioxide and water loss. Therefore, most beers and wines are packaged in glass bottles.
On the other hand, glass containers also have some defects: it has heavy weight, easy to break, high transportation cost, uneasy to print. Therefore, most commercial drinks don’t use glass bottle any more.
Metal can packages
Metal packages can be classified into 2-piece and 3-piece types. 2-piece metal can usually adopt aluminum alloy sheet, used for the package of soda drinks. 3-piece metal can are made of tinned steel sheet, used for the package of drinks without carbon dioxide gas.
- Metal cans has good barrier property. It can block air and light so as to prolong the shelf life of drinks.
- Metal can has good mechanical property. It is resistant to high-temperature, high-moisture, high-pressure, insect-pest, and harmful substance.
- Metal hand is hard to break. It is easy to take, and meet today’s life style.
- Metal can be well decorated to promote sales.
- Metal can be melt and recycled.
In recent years, the consumption of canned drinks and beers surges. Currently, the metal can production is 410 billion every year, with 320 for packing beverages. AGICO provide metal can filling machine for drink manufacturers.
Composite can is a new type of metal can. It is made of polypropylene, aluminum foil and cardboard, and formed by flat winding or spiral winding. It has light weight, low cost, little can smell. But its airtightness is not as good as metal can, and it is unfit for high heat sterilization.
Metal packages also has some drawbacks: poor chemical stability and alkali resistance. If the interior paint has low quality, it would contaminate the drinks. It is necessary to upgrade the technology, improve the product quality, and solve the problem of break and leakage.
Paper carton packages
Paper containers are usually used for the package of fruit and vegetable juice, milk, and soft drink. It can be classified into papers, brick composite paper box, paper cup, and composite can.
Paper packages have the advantages of low cost, light weight, convenience for transportation, no metal dissolving or can smell.
Paper packages can be recycled easily, so it is environmentally friendly. But their pressure resistance and air tightness is lower than glass bottle, metal can, and plastic container. Besides, paper packaged drinks can not be sterilized under high temperature.
The paper cartons are made of high-strength paper boards. They are paper composite materials. They are widely used in fruit juice, teas, coffee, especially milks.
Paper packages have taken over large market space of glass bottles, but it is impacted by pet bottles. Paper packages still play an important role in the drink market, especially in small-capacity packing.
It is reported the sterile carton packing consumption is more than 100 billion every year, which is mainly contributed by people in developed countries.
Plastic packages
Plastic packages has wide application and bright prospect. Currently, there are 4 kinds of plastics for drink packages.
PE is a synthetic resin with the world’s largest production, as well as the most consumed package materials. PE has high, middle, and low 3 density degree. The high-density PE has high crystalline, with high hardness, air-tightness, mechanical strength, and chemical resistance. So PE is often made into bottles and hollow containers by blow molding. Owing to good heat-sealing performance, PE are made into various composite materials.
PVC can be classified into hard, soft and mushy products. The PVC bottles made by stretch and blow method are uniform in thickness, without stitches. It can be used for cola and soda drinks. The PVC bottle made by extrusion blowing molding is only applicable to fruit juice mineral water.
PP transparent bottle is a popular plastic packing in recent years. The nucleating agent can improve the transparency of the bottle and make it resistant to heat sterilization.
PET bottles
PET is the earliest developed and largest produced plastic containers. The PET bottle made by two-axis extended blow molding method has high transparency and glossiness, so it is an ideal replacement for glass bottles. Pet bottles are used in various tea drink, fruit juice and those need hot filling.
Currently, PET bottles take up the largest drink market share. It has the advantages of large capacity, transparency, solidity, convenience to carry, open, and recycle. These advantages endows PET bottle broad prospect. AGICO supply pet bottle flling machine for fruit juice manufacturers.
PET packages also have disadvantages. The gases may infiltrate through the PET bottle, which will cause the CO2 loss and destroy the taste of the drinks. The Polyester materials are more active than glass bottles. It may have chemical reaction with beers. The PET bottles are easy to get cut and split in transportation, flushing, and filling.
The development trend of fruit juice packaging
Currently, there are fruit juice, tea, bottled water, functional beverages, and carbonated beverages in the drink market. In the future, there will be more low-sugar, and sugar free drinks, pure natural, milk, and healthy drinks. The more categories the products, the more varieties the packages.
In the future, personalized, intelligent, and functional packages will win customers’ favor. As the statistics of an America market research company Harris Interactive, customers’ are in favor of those drink products easy to drink and store. The diversity of packaging function drive the product sales. Half of the packaging adjustment decision is made by the market. After the package adjustment, the drinks become more welcomed among customers. They prefer those clean and convenient packages that can save time and work for users.
The fierce market competition, the emerging of new products, and the over-saturated market have brought down the profits. Changing packaging become the only way to gain advantages if they can’t develop new products in time.
Drinks with distinctive will attract customers’ attention and win their favor. Many drink manufacturers requires the package supplier to provide distinctive appearance on caps, bodies, materials, shapes, capacities, colors, etc. Plastic bottles will remain as the most popular packages. Small packages and multi-piece packages will be more popular. Fashion and personalized will lead the trend.
With the expanding drink market and the diversity of drink categories, the drink manufactures and drink package suppliers are going to face opportunities and challenges. AGICO is a professional fruit juice production line manufacturer and supplier, we can provide customized solution for every customer.
