The U.S. packaging machinery market grew 4.2% from 2013-2014, coming in at $9.41 billion, according to the 2015 PMMI State of the Industry U.S. Packaging Machinery Report. The report, produced by PMMI, the Reston, Va.-based organization that produces the annual PACK EXPO shows,also notes a 4.4% increase in domestic shipments, growth of 1.6% in exports and growth of 3.6% in imports. As of Dec. 31, 2014, the order backlog decreased by 6.4%.

The report, which analyzes 27 packaging machinery categories, describes trends and the outlook for packaging machinery shipments through 2019.

The largest industry sector for packaging machinery is food, but it’s not the fastest growing, according to the study. That honor goes to the pharmaceuticals sector, which is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2.7% to 2019. Behind pharmaceuticals, the forecast for the beverage market is a 2% CAGR.

“This year’s report also addresses the impacts of outside factors, from legislation to retailers to population growth on the packaging machinery market,” says Jorge Izquierdo, vice president, market development, PMMI, The Association for Processing and Packaging Technologies. “For example, it points to The Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA), which created a national regulation for pharmaceutical serialization and track and trace, as the source of the growth we’re seeing in packaging machinery for the pharmaceutical sector.”

Within the United States, the value of shipments of packaging machinery grew from $7.1 billion to $7.5 billion from 2013-2014. Growth is expected to continue at a 1.6% CAGR, reaching $8.1 billion by 2019.