The FIBC market is continuing to grow quite steadily. However, it remains fragmented and as more and more low-cost producers jump on the big bag bandwagon, so selling prices continue to fall amid a backdrop of high raw material prices and oil at $70 a barrel. The flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC) market is continuing to grow at somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent per annum as industrial users view these units as arguably the most manageable and efficient type of packaging for solid materials. The economic and logistical benefits of the system, viz that one tonne of product can be loaded, transported and then emptied from just one unit as opposed to 20 individual 50-kg or 40 individual 25-kg sacks, mean that both handling and packaging costs can be kept to a minimum -which of course is great news for any CFO looking to reduce peripheral expenditure. Furthermore, FIBCs can also be refurbished and reused - providing they are designed for such a purpose - thus further reducing a user's outlays and they also offer significantly better transport economics, even when empty, than any rigid rival.
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