Packaging industry’s sustainability drive good news for BOPP film, finds Wood Mackenzie

The global BOPP film market has seen demand grow by just under five per cent per annum over the last five years, according to Wood Mackenzie’s latest BOPP Film Global Supply Demand Report.

The BOPP film industry is worth in the region of $15 billion, and delivered over 8.4 million tonnes in 2018.

The global market us currently well supplied, and dominated by China and the growing influence of Indian-owned producers that continue to expand their operations globally.

Global demand for BOPP film is expected to grow at a healthy rate of 4.7 per cent p.a over the next five years to 2023.

Forecast growth in Asia is expected to be significantly higher, particularly in China and India where Wood Mackenzie expects to see growth of 6.3 per cent p.a and 9.4 per cent p.a respectively.

Robert Gilfillan, Wood Mackenzie Head of Film and Flexibles, said: “Global BOPP film demand continues to see healthy growth despite the backlash against plastic packaging.”

“In fact, the issue of recycling and sustainability has created a favourable set of circumstances for the BOPP film sector. As part of a circular economy, brands are being pressured to find more environmentally-friendly ways of packaging their products.”

“This has caused a shift in focus from multi-material and multi-layer laminates, which are currently non-recyclable, to mono-material laminates.”

“The fact that BOPP film is part of the wider polyolefin chemical family means it can be laminated, with polyethylene film for example, and still be widely accepted in today’s recycling waste stream.”

“Our research indicates that, in certain applications, the consumption of BOPP film has benefitted from this sustainability drive at the expense of other polymers.”