UK FILM INDUSTRY
PE market hits new high but imports take all the increase / Static home market / Packaging demand rises 3.6% / PIFA sees e-auctions “open to abuse” / Campaign against carrier bag tax
The polyethylene film market in the UK continues to grow, showing a 3.4% increase in 2002 following a 2.7% rise the previous year. Actual consumption in 2002 reached a record 1.125m tonnes, of which 363,000 t was accounted for by imports. This was an unwelcome 11.7% import increase for UK producers, who only increased their output by 0.2%, to 901,000 t, during the year. Exports from the UK rose by 3%, to 139,000 t.
The statistics on the UK market have been compiled by Applied Market Information (www.amiplastics.com) for The Packaging and Industrial Films Association (PIFA, GB-Nottingham NG7 7GR; www.pifa.co.uk). Referring to the 2002 market in its annual report, PIFA says: “In many ways this continues the pattern of recent years with film products, particularly converted bags, coming in from Asia and focussing strongly on the market in the British Isles.”
Stretch film demand boosted sales of LLDPE polymers in 2002 and confirmed their position as market leader with offtake of 360,000 t, compared with LDPE´s 335,000 t. The lower price of butene grades and an element of stock-building may have helped sales of LLDPE during the year, but use of metallocene grades remains relatively low, at 50,000 t. Use of externally sourced recycled materials is estimated to have increased slightly, to 92,000 t, while use of MDPE and HDPE remained steady, at 62,000 t and 19,000 t, respectively.
Non-packaging applications for PE film accounted for 6.5% of total demand, at 74,000 t. For packaging films, sales of reel and lay-flat tubing rose 2.4% compared with the 4.4% increase registered for bags and converted products. Disappointingly for UK processors, PIFA says, “The strong growth in converted product was almost totally satisfied by imported films.”
The growth in the bag market stemmed from increased demand for refuse sacks (101,000 t), carrier bags (150,000 t) and retail bags (77,000 t), with heavy duty sacks (36,000 t), industrial liners (24,000 t), bread and freezer bags (19,000 t) largely static. Pallet stretch (122,000 t) continued to be the largest market for film on the reel, although its advance over the 12 months of 2.5% fell well short of its average 10.5% increase over period 1991-2001. Other growth applications were form, fill and seal (22,000 t), lamination film (28,000 t) and bubble film (14,000 t). A positive driver for the frozen food and laminating film sectors is the steadily increasing UK demand for pre-prepared meals. The collation shrink market was static in volume terms, at 58,000 t, but this was mainly attributable to continued downgauging that sees an average thickness of 40-45 microns, only half the 80 microns of five years ago.
Imports of PE from non-EU countries rose 15.3%, to 250,000 t, at an average price, says PIFA, of GBP 831/t. Malaysia led the way, supplying one third of the total (85,000 t) and increasing its sales by 22%. The average price for this material was GBP 717/t, significantly below the GBP 865/t of second-placed China (61,000 t), but ahead of the other major player, Thailand (44,000 t), whose average price was GBP 660/t. A total of 16 non-EU countries supplied more than 1,000 t of polymer to the UK market during 2002. The leading EU supplier to the UK was Italy (16,000 t), with Germany (10,000 t) in second position.
A virtually static home market, unfavourable exchange rates and the continued flow of imports have increased the vulnerability of PE film processors in the UK supply chain. Many suffered a fall in earnings in 2002, with a number either moving into lower cost economies or ceasing manufacture and servicing their customers with imported product. In addition, companies are being hit by the abuse of e-auctions, which PIFA considers are unregulated and wide open to abuse, and merely used as a means for beating down prices from existing suppliers. As a result, the association is active within Europe in an attempt to agree a suitable code of practice.
Also, PIFA has initiated a campaign – Carrier Bag Consortium – to fight any move towards a tax on carrier bags, as has been adopted in Ireland. “People across the world are being seriously misled that a carrier bag tax would help the environment when the opposite would be the case,” says the CBC. “It would encourage heavier alternatives which need more energy and valuable earth resources during manufacture.”
The CBC is made up of a group of UK producers and suppliers of carrier bags. It says it has received hundreds of calls for help and information from the US, Canada, South Africa and Asia as local governments are being pressurised to consider imposing a plastic bag tax. Nine key reasons why it considers a tax should not be imposed can be found on the Internet, at www.carrierbagtax.com.
The statistics on the UK market have been compiled by Applied Market Information (www.amiplastics.com) for The Packaging and Industrial Films Association (PIFA, GB-Nottingham NG7 7GR; www.pifa.co.uk). Referring to the 2002 market in its annual report, PIFA says: “In many ways this continues the pattern of recent years with film products, particularly converted bags, coming in from Asia and focussing strongly on the market in the British Isles.”
Stretch film demand boosted sales of LLDPE polymers in 2002 and confirmed their position as market leader with offtake of 360,000 t, compared with LDPE´s 335,000 t. The lower price of butene grades and an element of stock-building may have helped sales of LLDPE during the year, but use of metallocene grades remains relatively low, at 50,000 t. Use of externally sourced recycled materials is estimated to have increased slightly, to 92,000 t, while use of MDPE and HDPE remained steady, at 62,000 t and 19,000 t, respectively.
Non-packaging applications for PE film accounted for 6.5% of total demand, at 74,000 t. For packaging films, sales of reel and lay-flat tubing rose 2.4% compared with the 4.4% increase registered for bags and converted products. Disappointingly for UK processors, PIFA says, “The strong growth in converted product was almost totally satisfied by imported films.”
The growth in the bag market stemmed from increased demand for refuse sacks (101,000 t), carrier bags (150,000 t) and retail bags (77,000 t), with heavy duty sacks (36,000 t), industrial liners (24,000 t), bread and freezer bags (19,000 t) largely static. Pallet stretch (122,000 t) continued to be the largest market for film on the reel, although its advance over the 12 months of 2.5% fell well short of its average 10.5% increase over period 1991-2001. Other growth applications were form, fill and seal (22,000 t), lamination film (28,000 t) and bubble film (14,000 t). A positive driver for the frozen food and laminating film sectors is the steadily increasing UK demand for pre-prepared meals. The collation shrink market was static in volume terms, at 58,000 t, but this was mainly attributable to continued downgauging that sees an average thickness of 40-45 microns, only half the 80 microns of five years ago.
Imports of PE from non-EU countries rose 15.3%, to 250,000 t, at an average price, says PIFA, of GBP 831/t. Malaysia led the way, supplying one third of the total (85,000 t) and increasing its sales by 22%. The average price for this material was GBP 717/t, significantly below the GBP 865/t of second-placed China (61,000 t), but ahead of the other major player, Thailand (44,000 t), whose average price was GBP 660/t. A total of 16 non-EU countries supplied more than 1,000 t of polymer to the UK market during 2002. The leading EU supplier to the UK was Italy (16,000 t), with Germany (10,000 t) in second position.
A virtually static home market, unfavourable exchange rates and the continued flow of imports have increased the vulnerability of PE film processors in the UK supply chain. Many suffered a fall in earnings in 2002, with a number either moving into lower cost economies or ceasing manufacture and servicing their customers with imported product. In addition, companies are being hit by the abuse of e-auctions, which PIFA considers are unregulated and wide open to abuse, and merely used as a means for beating down prices from existing suppliers. As a result, the association is active within Europe in an attempt to agree a suitable code of practice.
Also, PIFA has initiated a campaign – Carrier Bag Consortium – to fight any move towards a tax on carrier bags, as has been adopted in Ireland. “People across the world are being seriously misled that a carrier bag tax would help the environment when the opposite would be the case,” says the CBC. “It would encourage heavier alternatives which need more energy and valuable earth resources during manufacture.”
The CBC is made up of a group of UK producers and suppliers of carrier bags. It says it has received hundreds of calls for help and information from the US, Canada, South Africa and Asia as local governments are being pressurised to consider imposing a plastic bag tax. Nine key reasons why it considers a tax should not be imposed can be found on the Internet, at www.carrierbagtax.com.
31.07.2003 Plasteurope.com [14367]
Published on 31.07.2003