European Aluminium Foil Trends for 2003 Indicate Sustained High Level Sales - News Item

According to the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA), in 2003 European sales of aluminium foil again achieved the high level of 2002. Deliveries reached 791,644 tons – a slight increase of 0.1 percent over the previous year (790,706 tons).

Sales were mainly driven by exports outside the EAFA regional coverage (Armenia, European Union, Czech republic, Hungary, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey) with a growth of 2.7 percent whilst usage in the EAFA region decreased slightly by 0.4 percent.

Livio Frigerio, President of EAFA, commenting on the latest annual figures said: “The sustained sales underline the continuing high level of demand for aluminium foil despite the difficult economic situation in Europe and shows the global leadership of the European foil industry in terms of quality and competitiveness. Furthermore, the ongoing practice of downgauging actually means an underestimate of the real growth of aluminium foil. In view of worldwide economic recovery the industry is optimistic for the year 2004.”

Approximately three quarters of aluminium foil is used in packaging where its characteristics of strength, formability and barrier properties have made it an essential part of many flexible packaging and container applications. The number of new products that feature innovative uses of aluminium foil based packaging indicates a healthy future for the material. Other uses of aluminium foil include automotive and other heat exchange components, insulation material and other industrial applications.

Posted March 2004