Page 20 - FINAT Yearbook 2014

FINAT RADAR
GAUGING MARKET TRENDS THROUGHOUT THE EUROPEAN SUPPLY CHAIN
At the beginning of 2014, FINAT announced the launch of RADAR, a half-yearly publication which will report trends and growth rates at all levels across the European narrow web supply chain. The association’s goal in publishing FINAT RADAR is to offer our members real-time access to the trends, opportunities and challenges which continue to shape and redefine the European narrow web industry.
President Kurt Walker comments: “The FINAT RADAR gives members something they cannot find anywhere else. The publication offers FINAT membership a resource which benchmarks key metrics within each European region, in addition to providing comparisons between Europe and other major global regions. The RADAR is a comprehensive report, tying together converter, brand owner, material supplier and capital equipment trending and performance analysis. This is an important initiative for both FINAT converter and supplier members.”
Market research firm LPC, Inc. was chosen to work with FINAT in the publication of RADAR and over the course of the past three months the firm has been hard at work surveying converters, brand owners and industry suppliers in all European regions. LPC Managing Director Jennifer Dochstader comments, “The dynamic of the European narrow web industry is a unique one. This is a mature, highly regulated and constantly changing market where label converters are held to what are the most stringent environmental compliance standards in the world. The participation rate we have received from FINAT members has been outstanding and we look forward to continuing our efforts with the second edition of RADAR due out this autumn.”
FEATURES FROM THE FIRST EDITION
In the recently released debut edition of RADAR, more than 50 FINAT label converters participated in a detailed survey focusing on sales and profit trends, production data and capital equipment procurement trends. Converters from every European region participated in the research to enable benchmarking analysis in each market. The graph below indicates regional participation rates for converters that took part in the Converter Survey for the first edition of the report.
In the Converter Survey, participants were asked to predict revenue growth over the course of the next six months for each major end-use sector they serve (food, beverage, pharmaceuticals, consumer durables, etc.), in addition to
providing their companies’ turnover growth for 2013. This data enables converter members to gauge their performance and projections against the European market as a whole, and against companies in their own specific region.
In parallel to this approach, the RADAR Brand Owner Survey asked companies to project growth and/or contraction rates for their label purchases over the next year. This exercise is essential in order to cross reference converter projected growth rates with what brand owners are predicting label procurement increases will be, in order to calculate growth rates for the market which are as close as possible to what the future will actually deliver. The table below indicates average growth rates from both converters and brand owners who were surveyed for the first edition of the report.
UPSTREAM SUPPLY DATA
In addition to historical and projected growth rates, the debut edition of RADAR which was released at the end of May includes both a European Labelstock Index and a European Conventional Press Index. Both indices aggregate data from FINAT labelstock and conventional press member suppliers to
20
FINAT YEARBOOK 2014 |