Analysts in Buenos Aires claim, in a new report on South American business trends, that glass packaging went through a revival last year and that, in the long term, there could be a switch away from plastic to glass for beverage and food packaging.
Across the continent the figures for 2002 show that production of glass grew by 7.2% compared with 2001 and that imports of glass containers rose too.
Rising demand for carbonated drinks and beer, along with mineral water and packaged foods, has boosted the overall demand for containers. But packagers, faced with rising prices for imported PET materials, turned to glass because the price was right. Even Coca-Cola in South America switched more production into glass bottles last year.
In 2002 reports suggest that along with the rise in glass production, aluminium production rose by 9.7%, while plastics production fell by 10.6%.