October 21: Food can shipments in the US were up 1.2 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2008, reaching 8.69 billion.
According to the Can Manufacturers Institute, biggest growth was in cans used for vegetables, which were up by 6.0 percent to 3.69bn. Cans for pet foods were up 2.5 percent to 1.73bn and those for coffee, fruits and soups were all up at between 0.3 and 0.8 percent.