April 25: Beverage cans are increasingly the package of choice for drinks companies as manufacturing efficiencies have improved, a wider range of can products are offered and there is dramatic growth in emerging markets.
But the continued rise in the price of aluminium – used for about 85 percent of the cans made world wide – could compel canmakers to switch back to steel, seek out other commodity markets or change their business model to buy metal direct from producers.
That was the upbeat but guarded message from Bill Barker, the group director for beverage cans at Rexam, the world’s leading manufacturer, when he opened the Cannex 2007 show this morning in Las Vegas.
