CLEVELAND, OH - A new study from The Freedonia Group forecasts the global sales of pallets to increase 5 percent annually through 2017 to 5.1 billion units. This is an uptick from a slow period from 2007 to 2012.

“Pickup in manufacturing activity will spur across-the-board gains, especially in large, mature regional markets such as North America and Western Europe,” said Zoe Biller, analyst for Freedonia Group.

Freedonia Group projects pallet demand to grow 6.8 percent per year in value terms and reach $51.6 billion in 2017. The growth in value volume will be bolstered by increased rates in unit sales along with a shift in the product mix toward higher-priced plastic pallets. The amount of pallets utilized will grow at a 4.6 percent yearly rate through 2017 to 9.9 billion.

Stock gains will be powered by a stronger global economy making necessary additional pallets to handle increased shipping requirements in addition to developing markets using pallets more.

Demand for plastic pallets will mature the fastest of any product type in most national markets through 2017. Plastic pallets can be easily cleaned, lending themselves to products where contamination must be minimized. They also last for many years and are resistant to damage during normal use. However, because of their low cost, wood pallets will continue to dominate product sales in most areas, representing more than nine-tenths of 2017 global unit demand.

© 2014 by The Freedonia Group, Inc.