A recent report, charting the future of the beer packaging business promises relatively good growth for the immediate future, but raises the prospect of long term market erosion as plastics technology begins to make plastic a viable alternative for the beer market. With worldwide demand for beer containers forecast to rise at an annual rate of 3.1% through until 2001, "World Beer Container" published by the Freedonia group, paints a positive picture of the immediate future. With its strong position in the beer packaging market, particularly in the Asian, E. European & S.American markets, glass can be expected to do well in the next three years. There are some other trends, however, which are less favourable for glassmakers. The predicted rise in containers is higher than the volume demand for beer, reflecting the falling size of containers.