The brand protection packaging sector is set to be worth $5 billion by 2030, driven by advances in track-and-trace, tamper-evident and product authentication technologies, according to the latest research by Smithers.
The ‘Future of Anti-Counterfeiting, Brand Protection and Security Packaging to 2030’ report, which examined how the market will expand across the next five years, projected the sector would rise from $4bn in 2025 to $5bn in 2030, based on a 4.7 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), at constant 2024 pricing.
Track-and-trace technologies were shown to have the largest share of the market, capturing 44.6 per cent of global value in 2025.
This was followed by tamper-evident (30.4 per cent), product authentication (23 per cent), and anti-theft (2 per cent).
Track-and-trace boom
Track-and-trace would experience the strongest expansion in the market over the next five years, the research showed.
It is expected to have a CAGR of 8.2 per cent, raising its market share to 52.6 per cent in 2030, as it leverages advances in RFID chips, smart devices, artificial intelligence, and blockchain software.
Food was identified as the largest end-use segment in the anti-counterfeiting market in 2025, accounting for 37 per cent of the global value.
This is due to cases of food fraud that have risen tenfold in the past four years, threatening consumer safety and trust in businesses involved in production, distribution and retail.
Industrial goods ranked as the second largest product group – over 26 per cent of global value in 2025 – with the use of security packaging technologies heavily biased towards higher-value and safety-critical components, including electrical and electronic equipment, and automotive and aviation parts.
Luxury brand owners
Other consumer packaged goods made up 14 per cent of the market, with certain luxury brand owners now linking security features to online digital product passports for individual products, to add a further level of protection, the report cited.
The pharmaceuticals sector, which was found to represent 6 per cent of the market, was described as making extensive use of tamper-evidence closures and traceability codes, which are increasingly becoming mandatory in supply chains.
Consequently, security solutions for pharma packaging were forecast to have the fastest growth across the remainder of the decade.
In addition, the report warns that the brand protection packaging market will face other challenges as it continues to evolve.
These will range from how to interface with the latest digital technologies in supply chains, to the ability to incorporate sustainable security packaging fixtures that enhance recyclability, it stated.
