Pallet stretch film goes global

Its recently published report, The global market for pallet stretch film, points to a worldwide market that currently uses nearly 3 million tons of polyethylene and is growing at over 7% per year. As a result, by 2011 the global pallet stretch film market will be a 4 million ton business, representing 9% of worldwide demand for polyethylene.

In the last 20 years, pallet stretch wrap has been one of the success stories of the global plastics industry. Strong demand from transport and end-user industries combined with a real competitive advantage against other forms of pallet stabilization has resulted in sustained growth in the developed markets and accelerating growth in other regions of the world.

The demand for pallet stretch films is continuing to advance in all regions of the world. Although the more established markets of Europe and NAFTA are experiencing a degree of maturity, the developing regions of the world are seeing major investment and growth in the application of pallet stretch films.

Currently, Europe accounts for 47% of global production of pallet stretch film and NAFTA for 29%. The most dramatic increase in production forecast over the next five years is in the Middle East, where two major capacity installations are to take place. The result of this, combined with further expansions in Asia, will be to reduce Europe’s and NAFTA’s combined share of global production from 76% to 68%.