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Industry Primers

Bottom-up NAICS industry primers written for both public-market and private investors. Leaf industries are researched from the ground up; every group, subsector, and sector above them reads as a contrast across the industries beneath it.

2122 industries · 24 sectors · NAICS 2022

Researched with AI assistance from official U.S. statistics and independent sources, with citations on every page. Figures are not individually verified against pinned evidence — primers marked Evidence-verified are. Industry research, not investment advice. Methodology.

National industryNAICS 332431

U.S. Metal Can Manufacturing: An Investor Primer

1. Overview

Metal can manufacturing is a mature, capital-intensive U.S. industry serving beverage, food, pet-food, aerosol and household-product companies. Demand is generally steadier than in most industrial businesses, but profits still depend heavily on plant utilization, manufacturing efficiency, input-cost recovery and contract discipline.

Public investors can obtain exposure through diversified packaging companies and beverage-can specialists. Private investors can participate through family-owned manufacturers, sponsor-controlled platforms, captive can plants, equipment suppliers and individual-plant transactions.

The central investment question is not simply whether can demand grows. It is whether an operator can keep expensive production lines full, pass through metal costs, retain large customers and avoid overbuilding capacity.

2. What it is and how it is structured

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 332431 covers establishments primarily manufacturing metal cans, lids and ends.[1] It sits within subsector 332, Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing, inside the broader 31–33 Manufacturing sector. Its main markets are:

  • Aluminum beverage cans.
  • Steel and aluminum food and pet-food cans.
  • Aerosol and general-line cans.
  • Specialty and decorative cans.

The classification excludes foil containers, assigned to NAICS 332999; light-gauge drums, barrels and similar non-can containers, assigned to NAICS 332439; heavy-gauge tanks, assigned to NAICS 332420; and metal crowns and closures, assigned to NAICS 332115.[1]

NAICS is establishment-based. A beverage company's captive can plant may be included even though its parent is classified elsewhere, while a packaging group's plastics, paper and overseas operations are excluded.

The industry contains several distinct production systems. Aluminum beverage cans are generally two-piece packages: a seamless body is drawn and ironed from coil, while the end is stamped separately and attached by the beverage filler. Steel food, pet-food and general-line cans may be two-piece drawn and redrawn cans or traditional three-piece cans made from a welded cylindrical body and two ends. Manufacturers wash, coat, print, cure, neck or bead, flange, leak-test and palletize the bodies; internal coatings isolate the contents from the metal and are critical to corrosion resistance and food safety.[2]

Empty cans are bulky relative to their value. Silgan says its metal-container plants generally serve customers within a 300-mile radius, making plant location and freight economics genuine barriers to entry.[7] Plants are frequently built near large fillers or food processors, and some effectively dedicate substantial capacity to one customer.

Sales are predominantly contractual rather than spot. Silgan estimates that approximately 90% of its projected 2026 metal-container sales are covered by multi-year arrangements, while Ardagh Metal Packaging says more than 80% of its 2025 revenue was backed by agreements lasting two to seven years.[7][8] These contracts provide volume visibility and input-cost pass-through mechanisms, but also expose producers to renewal pressure, competitive matching provisions and customer bargaining power.

Ownership is predominantly corporate. Of the industry's 170 U.S. employer establishments in 2023, 140 were operated by C-corporations or similar corporate forms, 19 by S-corporations, seven by proprietorships and four by partnerships.[3] These are establishment counts, not counts of independent owners.

3. How big it is

The preferred federal figures are:

Metric U.S. total
Sales or value of shipments, 2023 (AIES) $20.57 billion[4]
Operating expenses, 2023 (AIES) $16.35 billion[4]
Employer establishments, 2023 170[3]
Employment, March 2023 22,475[3]
Annual payroll, 2023 (CBP) $1.98 billion[3]
Annual payroll, 2023 (AIES) $1.61 billion[4]
Employer firms, 2022 68[5]
Employer establishments, 2022 175[5]
Employment, 2022 21,594[5]

The payroll figures differ because County Business Patterns and the Annual Integrated Economic Survey use different methodologies; both are valid federal sources. The AIES operating-expense figure is not a GAAP cost-of-sales measure and should not be converted mechanically into an industry operating margin. The available ground-truth statistics do not provide usable concentration ratios or Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI), so none is estimated here.

The Can Manufacturers Institute reports a broader domestic footprint of roughly 135 billion food, beverage, aerosol and general-line cans annually, more than 28,000 workers and about $15.7 billion of direct economic activity.[6] Those trade-association figures are broader than the federal NAICS employer totals and should not be treated as directly comparable.

Federal business statistics exclude businesses without paid employees. That is not a major structural undercount here: high-speed canmaking requires substantial equipment and labor, and the industry is not dominated by government entities or tiny owner-operators.

4. Investable universe

Public companies

Company Security Relevant exposure
Ball New York Stock Exchange (NYSE): BALL Large global aluminum-packaging company; its North and Central American segment includes U.S., Canadian and Mexican beverage-can plants.[9]
Crown Holdings NYSE: CCK Global beverage cans plus U.S. food, aerosol and closure operations.[10]
Silgan Holdings NYSE: SLGN Particularly direct exposure to North American steel and aluminum food and general-line cans.[7]
Ardagh Metal Packaging NYSE: AMBP Beverage-can specialist with eight U.S. plants, but approximately 76% controlled by Ardagh Holdings as of late 2025.[8][11]
Sonoco Products NYSE: SON Steel food and aerosol cans alongside substantial paper and other packaging operations.[12]
Anheuser-Busch InBev NYSE American depositary receipt (ADR): BUD Indirect exposure through captive U.S. can manufacturer Metal Container Corporation.[13]

The available submarket evidence shows substantial concentration. Ball estimates that North America's aluminum beverage-can market represented approximately 139 billion units in 2025, that five companies manufactured substantially all supply, and that Ball shipped approximately 50 billion units, equal to about 36% of aggregate North and Central American shipments. This is a regional beverage-can estimate, not a U.S. NAICS market share.[9]

Company segment revenue is not a substitute for U.S. NAICS revenue. For example, Ball's North and Central American beverage-packaging segment recorded $6.29 billion of 2025 sales and a 12% comparable operating margin, but that segment includes Canada and Mexico.[9] Silgan's global metal-container segment produced $3.14 billion of 2025 sales and an 8.3% adjusted earnings-before-interest-and-taxes margin.[7]

Major private or controlled owners

Trivium Packaging is jointly controlled by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, with an approximate 58% interest, and Ardagh Group, with approximately 42%.[14] CANPACK and Can Corporation of America are part of family-owned Giorgi Global Holdings.[15] Other meaningful private operators include fourth-generation family business Envases and family-owned Independent Can Company.[16][17]

The other major commercial beverage-can platforms alongside Ball include Crown Holdings, Ardagh Metal Packaging, CANPACK and Envases, alongside captive production. AB InBev produces cans through Metal Container Corporation, while Molson Coors and Ball jointly own Rocky Mountain Metal Container.[8][18] Captive capacity matters because it reduces the addressable merchant market and can shift customer negotiating leverage.

Private-market opportunities are usually plant- or platform-specific. Investors should examine customer contracts, dedicated production lines, plant age, environmental liabilities and maintenance needs rather than relying on broad packaging-market growth forecasts.

5. How the money works

Revenue is principally cans shipped multiplied by selling price and product mix. Selling prices often contain separate metal-cost adjustments. Ball says most contracted volume passes aluminum-price changes to customers, while Crown and Silgan also report contractual recovery of aluminum, tinplate and other manufacturing costs.[9][10][7]

Metal is the dominant variable input. Aluminum or tinplate steel is supplemented by coatings, inks, sealing compounds, lubricants, energy, pallets and freight. Ardagh estimates that variable costs account for approximately 75% of its cost of sales and fixed costs for approximately 25%; its variable category includes metal, energy, decoration, packaging and distribution, while fixed costs include labor, maintenance and depreciation.[8]

Pass-through clauses protect absolute profit better than reported margins. If metal costs rise and are reimbursed dollar-for-dollar, revenue rises but the profit dollars may not. Timing lags, tariffs, scrap rates and uncovered conversion costs can still hurt earnings. Pass-through also means reported revenue growth can be largely inflationary rather than evidence of greater volume or pricing power.

The cost base includes aluminum can sheet or tinplate steel, coatings, inks, energy, labor, freight, maintenance and depreciation. Empty cans are bulky relative to their value, making plant proximity to filling operations important.[10]

Can plants carry high fixed costs. Once a line is running well, incremental volume can be attractive; when volume falls, weaker fixed-cost absorption can quickly compress margins. Silgan's adjusted EBIT margin on metal containers declined from 9.0% in 2023 to 8.4% in 2024, partly due to unfavorable mix and reduced fixed-cost absorption when a large fruit-and-vegetable customer reduced its pack plan.[7] The Federal Reserve tracks output for the broader NAICS 33243 group, but its detailed metal-container series is unpublished and no stand-alone federal capacity-utilization rate is available for NAICS 332431.[19]

The most useful operating measures are:

  • Unit shipments and price/mix excluding metal pass-through.
  • Line utilization, uptime, speed, spoilage and scrap.
  • Contracted volume and renewal dates.
  • Customer and supplier concentration.
  • Capital spending versus depreciation.
  • Seasonal working capital and free cash flow.
  • Debt and interest coverage.

Food cans are seasonal because processors pack crops after harvest. Silgan historically reaches peak working-capital borrowing in summer or early autumn as it builds inventory and carries customer receivables.[7] Beverage demand is also seasonal, typically strongest in warm weather and around holidays.[8]

6. Demand drivers

Beverages. Ready-to-drink alcohol, energy drinks, sparkling water and new beverage launches support aluminum-can demand. Crown says recent U.S. and Canadian growth has been driven partly by products introduced in cans rather than other formats.[10] Specialty slim, sleek and nonstandard cans have generally grown faster and can earn better margins; Ardagh says specialty cans represented 51% of its 2025 shipments.[8]

Food and pet food. Human-food cans are mature and declining. The Can Manufacturers Institute reports U.S. food-can shipments declined from 26.3 billion units in 2022 to 24.4 billion in 2023 and 23.7 billion in 2024. Of the 2024 total, 14.9 billion were human-food cans and 8.8 billion were pet-food cans.[20] Pet food has recently been stronger: Silgan reported approximately 3% metal-container volume growth in 2025, primarily from pet-food demand.[7]

Aerosol and general line. Demand follows household cleaners, personal care, paint, automotive and industrial products.

Packaging substitution. Metal competes with polyethylene terephthalate plastic, glass, paperboard, flexible packaging and refillable systems. Metal offers barrier protection, high filling speeds and recyclability; alternatives may win on weight, cost or consumer convenience. Crown specifically warns that higher aluminum or steel prices relative to plastic resin can accelerate substitution.[10]

Recycling and brand commitments. The Environmental Protection Agency's 2018 national material dataset estimated recycling rates of 50.4% for aluminum beverage cans and 73.8% for steel packaging.[21] More recent industry data from the Aluminum Association and Can Manufacturers Institute shows the aluminum beverage-can recycling rate declined to 43% in 2023, versus a historical average of approximately 52% since tracking began in 1990. The average U.S.-made aluminum can contained 71% recycled material, and 96.7% of recovered can material returned to a closed-loop application.[22] Recyclability is an advantage, but actual collection rates matter more than theoretical recyclability.

7. Regulation

Food-contact coatings, inks and sealants fall under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food-contact-substance rules. Manufacturers must establish reasonable certainty that intended use will cause no harm.[23] Low-acid canned foods are also governed by specialized processing and container-integrity requirements, although responsibility is shared with the food processor. Bisphenol A (BPA) has historically been used in metal-can coatings, but producers are moving toward coatings that do not intentionally contain BPA and may face state PFAS restrictions. Reformulation is not a simple raw-material substitution: a new coating must survive forming, seaming, sterilization and long-term contact with acidic or otherwise aggressive contents.[7][24]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates hazardous air pollutants from metal-can coating under National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). Regulated emissions include glycol ethers, xylenes, hexane, methyl isobutyl ketone and other solvents used in coatings and printing.[25] Canmaking wastewater is covered by federal coil-coating effluent guidelines.[26] Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements apply to presses, cutting equipment, chemicals, noise and machine guarding.[27]

Trade policy is now a major cost variable. The Section 232 metals regime generally applies duties of 50% to covered metal products, 25% to many derivative products and temporarily reduced rates for specified equipment, subject to product origin and tariff classification.[28] A July 2026 proclamation also authorized half-rate primary-aluminum imports for companies with approved U.S. smelting-investment plans.[29] The exact treatment of can sheet, tinplate, finished cans or machinery depends on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States classification.

State deposit-return and extended producer responsibility programs can change collection rates, packaging fees and relative material economics.

8. Competitive dynamics and consolidation

Competition is regional because transporting empty cans is expensive and large customers require reliable supply near filling plants. Scale matters in purchasing, engineering, qualification and plant-network redundancy.

The industry nevertheless contains distinct markets. Beverage cans require extremely high-speed lines and close coordination with beverage fillers. Food and aerosol cans use different forming, coating and seasonal production processes. Specialty cans compete more on decoration, tooling and shorter production runs.

Consolidation has been substantial. The Federal Trade Commission required Ball to divest eight U.S. plants when it acquired Rexam in 2016, citing competition concerns in regional standard-can markets and the national specialty-can market.[30] Silgan claims more than half of 2025 U.S. metal-food-container unit volume; it identifies Crown, Sonoco, Trivium Packaging, Envases, Can Corporation of America, CANPACK, Massilly and Ideal Can as significant commercial competitors and estimates that only about 7% of U.S. metal food cans were still self-manufactured by food processors in 2025, reflecting decades of outsourcing to specialist canmakers.[7]

Barriers to entry include expensive lines, customer qualification, technical know-how, dependable metal supply and the need to reach efficient utilization quickly. However, barriers do not prevent overcapacity: a few poorly timed new lines can disrupt regional pricing and fixed-cost absorption.

9. Risks

  • Overcapacity: New lines can depress regional utilization and pricing before demand catches up.
  • Customer concentration: Large beverage and food companies possess considerable negotiating leverage and may dual-source.
  • Input mismatch: Contract formulas may not fully or promptly recover metal, energy, labor or tariff costs.
  • Supplier concentration: Qualified can-sheet and tinplate suppliers are limited; a disruption can stop production. Ball says more than seven global suppliers provide almost all its North and Central American aluminum can- and end-sheet requirements; Silgan warns of consolidation and facility closures among steel, aluminum and coatings suppliers.[9][7]
  • Substitution: Plastic, glass, paper and flexible packaging can take share.
  • Demand mix: Weak beer, soft-drink or canned-food volumes may outweigh growth in energy drinks or pet food.
  • Operational failure: Line downtime, poor startups, labor shortages and excess scrap are costly at high production speeds. Silgan reports that 31% of its U.S. and Canadian hourly plant employees were union-represented at year-end 2025.[7]
  • Quality and coatings: Seal failure, contamination or chemical-migration concerns can cause recalls and customer loss.
  • Leverage and acquisitions: Debt-funded deals can turn stable operating earnings into volatile equity returns.
  • Policy: Tariffs, recycling fees and food-contact rules can change costs faster than contracts reset.

10. How to invest and outlook

Public investors should compare valuation and leverage against normalized conversion earnings—not revenue inflated by metal pass-through. The cleanest beverage-can exposure is available through BALL, CCK and AMBP; SLGN offers more food-can exposure; SON provides a broader packaging mix; BUD offers only indirect captive-manufacturing exposure.

Private investors should prioritize contracted volume, plant utilization, customer diversification, line age, environmental compliance and maintenance capital. A well-located plant with durable customer commitments can be valuable; an underfilled plant with one expiring contract can become a liability quickly. For private diligence, the decisive metrics are contracted unit volume, customer and site concentration, pass-through formulas and lags, line utilization and uptime, scrap yield, specialty-versus-standard mix, maintenance and committed capital expenditure, freight radius, union expirations, environmental permits and coating qualification status.

Reported near-term evidence is constructive but not decisive. Crown reported first-quarter 2026 global beverage-can shipments up 5%, including 1% growth in North America, while Silgan reported metal-container volume up 2%, helped by double-digit pet-food growth.[31][32]

Forward-looking judgment: The U.S. industry is likely to remain stable to modestly growing rather than become a high-growth market. Beverage cans should benefit from new product formats and some substitution toward aluminum; food cans should remain defensive but mature, with pet food the healthier subcategory. Returns will probably differ more by utilization, contract quality, capital discipline and leverage than by industrywide volume growth.

Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, "2022 NAICS Definition: 332431 Metal Can Manufacturing," 2022, https://www.census.gov/naics/?details=332431&input=332431&year=2022

  2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Metal Can Manufacturing and Coating," 2003, https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=P1008FRH.TXT

  3. U.S. Census Bureau, "County Business Patterns: NAICS 332431," 2025, https://data.census.gov/table/CBP2023.CB2300CBP?codeset=naics~332431

  4. U.S. Census Bureau, "Annual Integrated Economic Survey: NAICS 332431," 2025, https://test.data.census.gov/table/AIESBASICTIMESERIES.AIES31BASIC01?codeset=naics~332431&g=010XX00US

  5. U.S. Census Bureau, "Selected Sectors: Concentration of Largest Firms for the U.S.," 2025, https://data.census.gov/table/ECNSIZE2022.EC2200SIZECONCEN?codeset=naics~332431&y=2022

  6. Can Manufacturers Institute, "Who We Are," 2026, https://www.cancentral.com/

  7. Silgan Holdings, "Annual Report on Form 10-K," 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/849869/000162828026012202/slgn-20251231.htm

  8. Ardagh Metal Packaging, "Annual Report on Form 20-F," 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1845097/000110465926024068/ambp-20251231x20f.htm

  9. Ball Corporation, "Annual Report on Form 10-K," 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/9389/000110465926017410/ball-20251231x10k.htm

  10. Crown Holdings, "Annual Report on Form 10-K," 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1219601/000162828026012904/cck-20251231.htm

  11. Ardagh Metal Packaging, "Beneficial Ownership Filing," 2025, https://www.ardaghmetalpackaging.com/investors/sec-filings/all-sec-filings/content/0000947871-25-001031/primary_doc.html

  12. Sonoco Products, "Annual Report on Form 10-K," 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/91767/000009176726000008/son-20251231.htm

  13. Anheuser-Busch InBev, "Completion of Metal Container Corporation Interest Repurchase," 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1668717/000119312526031755/d39375dex991.htm

  14. Trivium Packaging, "Sustainability Report," 2024, https://www.triviumpackaging.com/media/wo3nuzmb/trivium-sr-2024_v24_update.pdf

  15. CANPACK, "Supervisory Council," 2026, https://www.canpack.com/investor-relations/our-supervisory-council/

  16. Envases Group, "About Us," 2026, https://envases-group.com/about-us/

  17. Independent Can Company, "Our History," 2026, https://independentcan.com/about/history

  18. Can Manufacturers Institute, "Member Companies and Products," 2026, https://www.cancentral.com/about/member-companies-products/

  19. Federal Reserve Board, "Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization: NAICS 332," 2025, https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/SandDesc/table1.06.htm

  20. Can Manufacturers Institute, "U.S. Food Can Shipment History," 2025, https://www.cancentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CMI-Food-History-for-CC-1970-2024.pdf

  21. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Containers and Packaging: Product-Specific Data," 2018, https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/containers-and-packaging-product-specific

  22. Aluminum Association and Can Manufacturers Institute, "Aluminum Beverage Can Recycling Key Performance Indicators," 2024, https://www.aluminum.org/news/amid-recycling-rate-decline-aluminum-beverage-can-remains-most-recycled-drinks-package

  23. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Food Ingredients and Packaging," 2026, https://www.fda.gov/food/food-ingredients-packaging

  24. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Bisphenol A (BPA): Use in Food Contact Application," 2026, https://www.fda.gov/food/food-packaging-other-substances-come-contact-food-information-consumers/bisphenol-bpa-use-food-contact-application

  25. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Surface Coating of Metal Cans: National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants," 2026, https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/surface-coating-metal-cans-national-emission-standards-hazardous

  26. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Coil Coating Effluent Guidelines," 2026, https://www.epa.gov/eg/coil-coating-effluent-guidelines

  27. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, "Machine Guarding," 2026, https://www.osha.gov/machine-guarding/

  28. The White House, "Further Adjusting the Tariff Regimes for Imports of Aluminum, Steel, and Copper," 2026, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/06/further-adjusting-the-tariff-regimes-for-imports-of-aluminum-steel-and-copper-into-the-united-states/

  29. The White House, "Further Strengthening Actions Taken to Adjust Imports of Aluminum," 2026, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/07/further-strengthening-actions-taken-to-adjust-imports-of-aluminum-into-the-united-states/

  30. Federal Trade Commission, "FTC Requires Ball Corporation to Divest Eight Aluminum Can Plants," 2016, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2016/06/ftc-requires-ball-corporation-divest-eight-aluminum-can-plants-ardagh-condition-acquiring-rexam

  31. Crown Holdings, "First Quarter 2026 Results," 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1219601/000162828026027502/ex99mar2026.htm

  32. Silgan Holdings, "First Quarter 2026 Results," 2026, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/849869/000162828026028421/a991_33126.htm