With snacking rising in popularity, so too is the demand for flexible packaging options.
According to Mondelēz International’s State of Snacking 2020 global consumer report, nine in 10 global adults (88%) said they were snacking more (46%) or the same (42%) during the COVID-19 pandemic than before it. And it seems that this is a trend expected to only continue, with the majority (64%) of respondents saying they plan to keep eating small snacks throughout the day, as opposed to fewer larger meals.
In New Zealand, Euromonitor’s team of in-country analysists say that more Kiwi consumers, especially millennials, “are turning towards either healthier snacks or portion-controlled indulgent snacks,” with nuts, seeds, and trail mixes among the top choices.
One flexible packaging option that is proving to be popular, is pouches. Their ability to be resealed, and keep food fresh, makes them ideal for these types of snack foods.
Mordor Intelligence insights suggest the pouch packaging market is expected to reach NZ$32.76 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 4.66%, with Asia-Pacific expected to witness the fastest growth.
Keeping up with demand
Martijn van de Mortel, product manager of vertical packaging at GEA, says that as pouch packaging continues to grow in New Zealand, manufacturers will need to be flexible in their production.
“Not only in capacity, but also in bag style variation,” says van de Mortel.
To help their customers keep up with this growing demand, the food processing technology supplier has developed their SmartPacker CX400 D-Zip.
When designing the equipment, the company’s engineers carefully considered key industry trends, taking into account the needs of both manufacturers and consumers. The result? A packer that can produce more than 10 different bag styles for a wide variety of applications such as lollies, nuts, frozen fruit and grated cheese.
“High capacity is created with the CX400 D-Zip, which creates D-Zip bags at 100 bags per minute. It does this in the smallest footprint possible, so there is no need to extend the floorspace in the factory,” says van de Mortel.
“Also, since you would need various bag styles to keep up with the market demand, it offers the capability to create these various bag-styles on one single piece of equipment, with the changeover time as short as possible, so you don’t use up valuable production time.
“The SmartPacker CX400 D-Zip is future-ready.”
