Growing shrink label film market increasingly uses non PVC materials

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PVC has been in the forefront of clear shrink labels until now. In fact more than 90% of the shrink labels were in PVC until mid 90s.

PVC is still the first choice because of cost benefit it provides. Oriented Polystyrene (OPS) and PETG shrink labels are slowly increasing their market share despite their higher costs compared to PVC. These materials offer higher shrinkage (70- 80% compared to 50-60%). PETG also provides faster shrinkage even at lower temperatures like 35ºC.

BOPP shrink labels have limited usage due to lower shrinkage (20-25%). They can be used only for simple shapes of containers. The market of shrink film seems to be growing quite rapidly. No wonder that Bemis the world's largest film converter acquired Clysar shrink film business of Dnpont in 2002. Klockner Pentaplast has increased its shrink film capacity in 2002.

While no clear picture is available, some reports indicate that shrink label market in 2002 is beyond 60,000 tonnes and is expected to grow by 15-20% in the coming few years. In fact Eastman, the major supplier of PETG for this market estimates that PETG has already obtained more than 25% market share globally. PVC however still continues to have a major market share of about 40%. The remaining 35% is essentially shared by BOPS. BOPP shrink label market share is very small.

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