Shipments of food and general line cans in North America continued to grow strongly in the first quarter of 2021, according to the latest figures from the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI).

 The total for all categories of cans for a range of food products, industrial and aerosol uses in the three months to the end of March was 7.59 billion units, up 7.8 per cent compared with the same period in 2020. This is the first period for which the CMI is providing shipment data only for the food and general line sectors, having stopped publishing figures for beverage cans after December 2020.

The latest figures for food cans show that the vegetable sector, excluding juices, was the fastest growing at 1.76bn cans (up 14.1 per cent), followed by soups and miscellaneous foods at 1.34bn cans (up 11.7 per cent). Cans for pet food is now the biggest sector with 2.30bn cans (up 7.0 per cent). Two canmakers have joined the CMI: Canpack and Envases Universales, both of which are newcomers to the beverage can business in North America.

Article from: The Canmaker