The total market of PE films in North America is just about 6.5 million tons, growing quite impressively at 9% in 2004. AMI estimates that the market will grow at 4% for the next 5 years. As a series of market research projects on PE film markets around the globe, AMI has found that North America continues to grow quite impressively despite the challenges the film sector faces. These challenges are:
•  Rising price of raw material
•  Cheaper imports from Asian region

The market has been driven by strong demand in food packaging, shopping bags and heavy-duty sacks. Production of shopping bags in the USA recovered strongly in 2004 following the introduction of antidumping levies on Asian imports, which had pressured the market in previous years.
The recent steep rise in resin prices has also had an impact on the structure of the industry as it has forced companies to cut costs. There has thus been a trend for companies to shut down uneconomic plants. Consolidation has been a feature of the film extrusion market in recent years as companies have sought to increase in size to remain profitable by taking advantage of economies of scale. Rising levels of imports are also driving consolidation from economies of Asia and Latin America that have cheaper labour costs.
The geographical distribution of processors shows that USA has more capacity compared to Canada and Mexico. The largest number of processors is located in the Southern States with Texas having more film extruders than any other state. There are also significant numbers in the Midwest. The West of the country, in contrast, has relatively few film extruders, with most of the 42 located in California. The industry is highly concentrated in the hands of the leading players as the top 10 producers of PE film enjoy a market share of about 40% and the leading 50 groups comprise almost 70% of all PE film in North America.