PE Film Market Analysis: Stretch Film

The stretch film market continues to be one of the largest and most rapidly evolving polyethylene PE film markets. Stretch film processors remain optimistic about increases in demand for their products, as stretch film continues to displace other conventional means of pallet unitization and product bundling like plastic and metal banding, PE shrink film and pallet wrap/shrouds, pressure sensitive tape and adhesives, etc.

Three distinct types of stretch films are commonly produced: hand-wrap, machine rotary or power stretch wrap, and silage-wrap stretch films, the Mastio research revealed. However, within each category there are several highly customized sub-grades of stretch films designed for specific end-use applications. Stretch film application equipment is more cost-effective, faster, more user-friendly, more energy efficient and safer to use than shrink-wrapping equipment. Shrink film requires the use of heat lamps or hot air guns, which require greater amounts of energy and labor than power stretch wrapping equipment. New applications for specialty grades of stretch film continue to be developed and commercialized in North America, and more sophisticated stretch films are designed for existing applications.

During 2014, stretch film constructions were broken down accordingly: 1,467.4 million lb (75.8%) consisted of multi-layer coextruded film, and 468.4 million lb (24.2%) was monolayer film. Another benefit of the coextrusion process is the ability to mix and match different combinations of resins that yield the greatest properties and economies in the stretch films. One increasingly common trend in the stretch film market is coextrusion of mLLDPE resin with other conventionally produced butene, hexene, super hexene, or octene grades of LLDPE resin (LLDPE-butene, LLDPE-hexene, LLDPE-super hexene, and LLDPE-octene). mLLDPE resin enhances the film’s clarity, elongation, tear resistance, and puncture resistance in much thinner gauges, for only slightly higher material costs.