The development history of cans
In 1940, Europe and the United States began to sell beer in stainless steel cans. During the same period, the emergence of aluminum cans also became a leap in can-making technology. In 1963, the pop can was invented in the United States. It inherited the shape design characteristics of previous cans and designed a pop ring on the top. This was a revolution in opening methods, which brought great convenience and enjoyment to people, so it soon became widely used. By 1980, basically all European and American markets adopted this aluminum can as the packaging form for beer and carbonated drinks. With the advancement of design and production technology, aluminum cans tend to be lighter, from the initial 60 grams to about 21 to 15 grams in 1970.
Use of cans in other countries
Market demand situation
North American supply and demand tend to be stable
After entering the 1990s, North American cans The market on both sides of supply and demand continued to expand. By the end of the 1990s, supply and demand tended to be stable and the growth rate was slow. Currently, there are 169 can production lines in North America, with an average production line speed of 1,522 cans/minute, a total annual production capacity of approximately 109 billion pieces, and a market demand of approximately 107 billion pieces.
< p>Only, it is predicted that by 2004, the number of can production lines will decrease after the survival of the fittest, leaving about 157.The production line speed will increase to 1,630 cans/min. Cuba's current annual production capacity is 300 million cans, with an annual demand of 230 million cans. According to expert predictions, the overall North American supply and demand market growth is very small and has tended to be stable, but there will be growth in new can shapes such as 700ml specifications and 250ml specifications for functional beverages. Demand for cans in the United States in recent years
Unit: 100 million
Year 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Demand 1010 982 991 1007 1020 1040 1070
European supply and demand are booming
The total demand for beverage cans in Europe reached 35.5 billion in 2000, and reached 1.8 billion in the first half of 2001.
000 million, compared with It increased by 5% compared with the same period last year, mainly due to the 6% increase in beverage market demand and the 5% increase in beer, which promoted the growth in demand for beverage cans.
In 2000, Germany had the fastest growth rate of 3.7 billion, leading Europe's leader, the United Kingdom. The UK's
growth was about 30 million, and Spain and Portugal had the largest growth. is 10%, and the total growth is 2.6 billion. The demand for beverage cans in Spain has been the fastest growing region after the United Kingdom and Germany. Last year, the total demand reached 5
200 million and is expected to continue to grow. Mivesa is the largest can-making company in Spain. Sales in 1999 reached 155 million U.S. dollars. In recent years, sales have been on a strong upward trend. In 1991, the sales of this can factory were only 45 million U.S. dollars. Dollar. As can manufacturers are optimistic about the market demand in Spain and Portugal, the American Acquired Crown Industry Group is building a can production line in Spain to produce 330ml beverage cans using tinplate materials, with an annual output of 7 ．500 million pieces, expected to be put into production in 2002.
Poland’s demand for metal packaging containers continues to rise. It is expected that the consumption of metal materials used for packaging will reach 3.4 million tons by 2004. CANPAK Can Industry Company has already established a presence in Poland There are 3 production lines with an annual production capacity of more than 1.8 billion pieces. There are also 3 supporting easy-open lid production lines to produce 202 and 206 specifications of easy-open lids.
Two production lines are currently being built to produce 500ml aluminum quality cans. The initial production capacity is 600 million pieces per year. Later, it is planned to add stretching machines to increase the production capacity to 850 million pieces. If demand continues to grow There will be two more lines
.
Due to the popularity of the 250ml package of Red Bull energy drink in Australia, the demand for cans increased by 6
0% in 2000, with a total volume of 1 billion.
Experts predict that the demand for cans in Europe will maintain a growth rate of 4% to 5% in the future.
The problem of overproduction in South America has been alleviated
In the mid-1990s, the demand for cans in South America showed great potential, promoting the rapid development of the can industry, with the total production capacity reaching 300 billion pieces. With the continuous expansion of can production capacity, by the late 1990s, production capacity
had exceeded 30%. With the continuous growth of demand, the current excess production capacity has shrunk to 21.6%, and is expected to shrink to about 10.5% by 2004.
Brazil is the largest beverage and beer consumer market in South America, and is also the region with the strongest growth in demand for packaging containers.
The annual consumption of aluminum cans is 9 billion, and the annual consumption of aluminum materials is 12.5 billion. million tons, 65% of which is used for beer packaging,
The rest is used for beverages. There are 8 can factories and 3 easy-open cap factories. It is expected that demand will increase by 5% in the future. In addition, in terms of steel packaging containers, nearly 700,000 tons of tinplate are consumed annually, with per capita consumption of about 4kg, of which 6
5% is used for food packaging, and 6% is used for food packaging. It is mainly used in the production of can lids, and the rest is used in chemical industry and other packaging.
Mexico’s demand for cans is second only to Brazil, with an annual production capacity of 7 billion, which will soon reach 9
Billion. Demand has increased steadily in recent years.
Demand for packaging containers in Mexico
Unit: 100 million pieces
1997 1998 1999
Aluminum 59 65 68
< p>Steel quality 33.6 36.3 40The second group production has the advantage
REXAM, headquartered in the UK, is the world's number one manufacturer of beverage packaging containers. The output
exceeded 40 billion. In 2000, the group's total sales increased by 17% compared with 1999, and profits increased by 18%. The main aspect of can packaging increased by 95% compared with 1999. The reason for the sharp increase in profits in terms of can types was the acquisition of a large can factory in the United States, National Can Manufacturing, in July 2000. Company,
This can factory exclusively provides 250ml cans for Australia's Red Bull functional drink. The cost of this can is lower than 33
0ml, but the sales price is higher. The company also has factories in the suburbs of Russia, and its sales increased by about 50% between 1999 and 2000.
In order to obtain EU approval for Rexam’s acquisition of a national can-making company, the can factories in the group were reorganized
and some can factories in Britain, Germany and France were transferred. , but it is still the world's leading manufacturer of beverage packaging containers, with a 40% market share in the European can market. There are 144 factories around the world, and beverage cans account for 75% of the total annual sales.
Crown and Ball are the largest can-making groups in the world. Crown Group has 223 factories distributed in 50 countries.
There is one out of every five beverage cans in the world. From Crown, one out of every three food cans
in North America and Europe comes from Crown.
Ball has a total annual production capacity of approximately 35 billion pieces in North America and holds 35% of the aluminum two-piece can market share in the United States.
Kurz is a large brewery in the United States, with an annual output of 4.5 billion cans and lids that are used in the company's beer packaging
In order to reduce the cost of can packaging, the Kurtz canning factory partially cooperated with Boer Enter into joint ventures to professionalize the tank industry
.
These group manufacturers have strong competitive advantages in terms of technological progress, raw and auxiliary material procurement, equipment upgrading and
equipment upgrading, etc. to reduce product costs. advantages.
Three metal materials tend to be aluminum plates
There are two materials for making cans: one is aluminum and the other is tinplate. The consumption of aluminum metal materials used for packaging containers in the United States reached 1.9992 million tons in 1998, an increase of 2.24% over 1997, becoming the second largest consumer market. , accounting for 21.6% of the annual aluminum consumption.
The United States has always used aluminum plates as materials for cans. About 40% of aluminum plates are used in the production of cans every year. About 14% of aluminum metal materials in Europe are used in beverage production. Due to the high recycling value of aluminum metal and environmental protection considerations, it has now been A large number of companies began to turn to aluminum. In 1999, 63% of the cans produced were made of aluminum, which was an increase of 2% from 1998. In 2000, it increased by 9% compared with 1999. In the UK, it was 6% in 1999. In 2000, it increased by 6%. The can market in Finland, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Poland and other countries began to trend
Using 100% aluminum, 10% in Germany, and about 30% each in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
Because steel cans cost about US$7,000 less than aluminum cans, steel cans dominate the beverage packaging market in South America.
However, with the increase in environmental awareness. As well as considering the recycling of resources, aluminum packaging materials are gradually replacing steel.
Steel. Brazil’s current adoption rate is 65% and will grow by 10% in the next two years. In terms of spray cans, steel has been dominant in the past, but since 2000 many products have switched to aluminum, with a growth rate of 2% to 3%. , with the application of stretching technology in the production of spray cans, aluminum spray cans will gradually occupy the market
.
Four Focuses on Recycling
Aluminum’s strong rival in the packaging industry comes from PET materials. PET materials can be made into strange appearances through injection molds
while aluminum materials It is relatively difficult, but there is a big difference in the price of the two materials. PET is affected by the price of petroleum, while aluminum can be recycled through its own recycling, reducing material costs, and is favored by environmental organizations. Pay attention
to.
In recent years, Europe, the United States and some areas with active can consumption have continued to increase the recycling rate of aluminum cans and aluminum packaging materials.
Countries that have carried out recycling earlier are no longer debatable. The issue of recycling value of scrap aluminum cans has become a daily task, and countries that started late are working very hard to do it. The United States is the country that started this project earlier and has the highest recycling rate
. Germany and the Netherlands play a leading role in Europe. Mexico promotes 100% recycling rate.
Recycling rate of waste cans in the United States in recent years
%
Year 1997 1998 1999 2000
Recycling rate 60 56 57.9 62 ．5
Recycling rate of scrap aluminum and steel packaging containers in the United States in 1999
Unit: 10,000 tons
Consumer recycling rate
Aluminum packaging 232 134.2 57.9%
Steel packaging 235 137.68 58.6%
Environmentalists believe that aluminum cans are more economical than other packaging containers Environmental protection, as far as the container is concerned, repeated recycling
reduces environmental pollution; as far as the materials used are concerned, repeated use of aluminum effectively saves resources and maintains the global environment
, and other packaging containers, such as popular plastic and PET materials, are all derived from petroleum. The continuous exploitation of petroleum will cause the depletion of resources.
Recycling rates of scrap steel packaging containers in some countries in 1999
%
Countries: United States, Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom, Australia
Recycling rates 58.6 82.9 80 75 10 30 73
Note: ①The overall recycling rate of steel packaging containers in Europe is 47%.
②The recycling rate of aluminum cans in Japan in 1998 was 74.4%, and 79% were reused in the manufacture of aluminum cans.
5. Continuous technological improvement and asset reorganization
In order to maintain the dominant position of cans in beverage and beer packaging, the can industry continues to carry out technological transformation,
Reduce Cost and improved appearance have become the order of the day. In order to further reduce costs, the American Crown Group has developed an aluminum easy-open lid called a "super lid". and bring it to market.
It is said that this product can save 10% of materials compared with the original product. The current annual production capacity of this product is 1.8 billion pieces, and the production plan is accelerating to expand to meet demand
, will achieve an annual production capacity of 7 billion pieces in the near future. In addition, the company also developed self-cooling tanks using environmentally friendly refrigeration materials. The first batch of 35 million units was launched on the market. This self-cooling tank will be ready in less than three minutes after the ring is pulled open. /p>
The temperature of the beverage can be reduced by 15°C.
In terms of reducing the thickness of materials used, North America has shifted from 204 specification can openings to 202 specifications. The thickness of aluminum materials used has been reduced to 0.259mm, and the thickness of steel materials is 0.259mm. 22mm.
To control the amount of ink in metal color printing, the density method is used to eliminate the differences in the
perceptions and perceptions of the same pattern color by different observers, as well as the influence of sufficient light on the color. To determine the impact, quantitative analysis can be done on the ink content in the color. The cost of the relief and special-shaped processes implemented to improve the can's appearance has also been effectively controlled.
The can products with realistic character patterns and animal patterns that were crowned the world's metal packaging containers in 2001 can be seen
The achievements and trends of metal color printing technology can be seen.
Some of the larger international can industry groups, as well as can equipment mold manufacturers, have been reorganizing their assets in recent years
to control costs more effectively.
The domestic can industry in the six countries is still in trouble
The domestic can industry started in the early 1980s. Although it only has a history of 20 years, it has gone through a long period
< p>Three crises. The first time was in the context of the monetary tightening policy in 1988, when domestic public opinion circles launched a fierce debate on whether the production and consumption of cans were in line with national conditions. At that time, cans were regarded as high consumption and advocating foreign style. At the same time, the country increased the import tariff on raw and auxiliary materials from 20% to 40%, and production companies faced a life and death test. The second crisis occurred in June 1989. Due to well-known reasons, the national beverage market plummeted and the can industry was in trouble. The third time was the “exchange rate crisis”. After entering the 1990s, the domestic can industry developed rapidly. The original can factory expanded its capacity and built more new factories, thereby reaching an annual production capacity of 10 billion pieces. However, due toBecause demand has never been able to effectively break through, overproduction has led to the fourth crisis.
In recent years, the domestic demand for cans has remained between 6 billion and 7 billion, so domestic can factories
still have not been able to get out of trouble. On the one hand, this is influenced by the traditional consumption habits and consumption levels of the people. Glass bottles still dominate beer packaging. On the other hand, cans are no longer regarded as high-end consumer goods or fashionable consumption. However, due to their consumption price at a certain economic level, it is difficult for them to become mass consumption and replace glass bottles, like Germany
p>In recent years, cans have gradually replaced beer glass bottle packaging in China. Furthermore, as most of the can industry is currently in trouble
and is affected by related industries, can factories have to invest a large amount of money in substantial technological transformation to reduce costs
cost, thus making it difficult to lower the overall price to promote consumption. As market competition intensifies, the law of survival of the fittest will be reflected in the domestic canning industry. The domestic canning industry will follow the development path of the foreign canning industry and carry out technological transformation
Reorganize assets for development. According to expert predictions, China's consumption of aluminum metal for packaging will reach 900,000 tons by 2005, accounting for approximately 14.3% of total aluminum metal consumption. With the continuous growth of the national economy, the improvement of people's living standards, and the emphasis on environmental protection, domestic cans will usher in a brilliant future after the fourth crisis. day.
In short, the development of the can industry is closely related to the level of economic development in the region. Economic development promotes the improvement of environmental awareness
and promotes the recycling of effective resources, thus forming a virtuous cycle.