Aluminium is still first choice among specifiers with 54% of the market. While the use of aluminium is growing at 9%, steel is growing at 2%.
But individual country performances provide a different picture to that presented by Europe.
Germany, which is the largest supplier, produced 3.7bn cans with an increase of 3%. Most of their growth is seen in the beer segment and in steel. In Austria the can market is apparently booming because of the success of the Red Bull energy drink. The majority of the 25cl aluminium cans for this drink are filled in Austria. The market is currently up by more than 60%/yr to date, reaching almost 1bn cans.
A growth of 10% has been recorded for Spain and Portugal with half-year volumes at 2.6bn cans. The market is expected to continue to enjoy double-digit growth.
Although the rate of growth in beverage cans has slowed down in Eastern Europe, the market performance remains positive in the beer segment. And established markets in France, Greece and Scandinavia are enjoying higher volumes. There are some countries that have seen their first half-year volumes down on last year.
Turkey, in particular, is suffering from an economic crisis that has hit many areas of the market including beverage cans. As at the end of June, volumes were down by about 100M cans.
With the maturest market in Europe, the UK has reversed last year's 6% decline in volumes with volumes up by 30M cans.
According to the BCME, the European can market growth is forecast to continue this year with a 4-5% increase.
