PIFA: Higher film prices expected
The Packaging and Industrial Films Association (PIFA) has warned of ’significant’ price increases for film likely to occur this month as producers and converters become no longer able to absorb polymer price increases. Competition has until now forced producers to absorb the increases in the hope that prices will start to move back down, but according to PIFA it is now obvious that this is not going to happen and raw material prices will undoubtedly escalate further over the coming months.
PIFA says that most producers are ‘working on non-existent or wafer-thin margins’ and with the price of some polymers rising 27 per cent this year, non-recovery of these costs will result in rapid business failures.
Higher plastic prices are not the only problem, and converters of complex packaging products are also having to pay more for paper, solvents, inks and other materials.
Beyond price difficulties are supply difficulties. Production problems have put some plastics materials on allocation, says PIFA, and some grades may already be sold out for September. The association adds that the level of naphtha supply is causing some operations to shut down petrochemical plants completely.