Globally, pharmaceutical companies are focusing on expanding their production capacity to meet the growing demand for vaccines, which, in turn, is propelling the production of glass vials. On account of this, the global vials market is projected to reach $3,047.0 million by 2030, advancing at a CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period (2021–2030).
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, vial manufacturing has been positively affected, owing to the increased demand for primary packaging containers used for pharmaceutical drugs. Moreover, with the rapid spread of the disease, the focus of pharmaceutical and research organizations across the world has shifted toward finding novel vaccines and treatment drugs for the disease. Thus, the increasing demand for glass vials has encouraged manufacturers to increase their production capacity in order to fulfill the demand from the pharmaceutical industry, and the trend is likely to continue in 2021 as well.
End users in the vials market include pharmaceutical and biotech companies, medical, biomedical research organizations, and others. Among these, the pharmaceutical and biotech companies category dominated the market during the historical period (2014–2020), and it is expected to retain its dominance during the forecast period as well. This can be mainly attributed to the increasing demand for high-quality drugs, including biologics, and the rising healthcare expenditure. These factors are propelling the demand for pharmaceutical packaging solutions, which, in turn, is positively influencing the market for vials.
Furthermore, the vials industry has been categorized into borosilicate and fused-silica, on the basis of glass type. Of the two, the borosilicate category is expected to witness faster growth during the forecast period. This can be primarily ascribed to the fact that end users, such as pharmaceutical and biotech companies, are increasingly preferring borosilicate glass vials for liquid and lyophilized drugs, due to their impermeability, chemical inertness, transparency, thermal stability, low extractability and leachability, and cost-effectiveness.
Geographically, Europe was the largest revenue contributor to the vials market in 2020. This is mainly due to the presence of a large number of vial manufacturers in the region, including Schott AG, Gerresheimer AG, Stevanato Group, and SGD S.A. Moreover, glass vials are used on a wider scale than plastic vials in the European pharmaceutical industry.
However, in terms of market growth, Asia-Pacific (APAC) is expected to be the fastest-growing market for vials during the forecast period. This can be mainly attributed to the fact that several companies operating in the market are dedicatedly working toward establishing new plants and increasing their production capacity in this region in order to bridge the demand and supply gap in the market.
Players in the vials market are involved in expansions to gain a significant position in the market. For instance, in November 2020, SCHOTT AG announced an investment of around $14 million in its existing production facilities in Gujarat, Daman, and Himachal Pradesh in India, in order to increase its vial production by 300 million units annually. Similarly, in November 2019, SCHOTT AG built a new glass tank facility in Gujarat, India, to expand its manufacturing capacity of glass material for the pharma industry. With its state-of-the-art technology, the facility develops pharmaceutical packaging and tubing material, including vials, in accordance with the Industry 4.0 standards.
Major players operating in the global vials market include Phoenix Glass LLC, Pacific Vial Manufacturing Inc., Hanna Instruments, O.Berk, Acme Vial and Glass Company LLC, SCHOTT AG, Corning Incorporated, Gerresheimer AG, SGD Pharma, and Stevanato Group.