IN Brief:
- Flexible Packaging Europe recorded quarterly price increases across every substrate in its raw material index.
- Minimum prices for 20-micron BOPP rose 97%, while PET film, BOPA, polyethylene, foil, and coated paper also increased.
- Food manufacturers face material inflation while simultaneously redesigning packs for recyclability and regulatory compliance.
Flexible Packaging Europe has recorded sharp second-quarter price increases across the principal films, polymers, foil, and coated paper used by European converters, adding another cost pressure for food manufacturers managing volatile ingredients, energy, and distribution.
The association’s raw material price index showed a 97% quarter-on-quarter rise in minimum prices for 20-micron biaxially oriented polypropylene film. Twelve-micron PET film increased by 40%, 15-micron biaxially oriented polyamide film rose by 21%, and seven-micron aluminium foil was up by 12%.
Polyethylene moved strongly in the same period, with minimum prices for high-density polyethylene increasing by 38% and low-density polyethylene rising by 31%. One-side coated 60gsm paper recorded a smaller increase of nearly 5%, but every substrate tracked by the index moved upwards.
Compared with the second quarter of 2025, all observed materials also stood at higher levels. Geopolitical disruption, elevated oil and energy costs, constrained European resin availability, low inventories, production outages, and redirected international trade flows combined to tighten purchasing conditions.
BOPP was particularly exposed because polypropylene resin supply in Europe was already restricted before the latest disruption. PET film costs rose alongside oil prices and concerns over supplies of purified terephthalic acid and monoethylene glycol, while higher polyamide and caprolactam costs moved through BOPA pricing.
Some polyethylene spot prices began to ease after the increases recorded through March, April, and May, although they remained above pre-crisis levels. European converters continued to supply requested volumes, preventing material inflation from developing into widespread production stoppages, but contract structures will determine how quickly higher costs reach food manufacturers.
Flexible packs are used across snacks, bakery, confectionery, coffee, cheese, meat, frozen foods, pet food, ingredients, sauces, and prepared meals because they combine barrier performance, sealability, low transport weight, printability, and compatibility with fast machinery. A broad substrate increase therefore reaches a large share of food production.
Redesign continues as materials become dearer
Manufacturers are already changing structures to improve recyclability, reduce material, increase recycled content, and meet new documentation requirements. European packaging data published by the Joint Research Centre has reinforced the scale of the compliance work accompanying the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, while the latest index adds inflation to the same development programmes.
Substitution rarely involves a direct exchange between otherwise identical films. Moving from one polymer structure to another can alter stiffness, puncture resistance, print behaviour, heat sealing, machinability, oxygen and moisture barrier, shelf life, and recycling compatibility. A lower-priced film may need greater thickness or generate more rejects if it performs poorly on existing equipment.
Downgauging has similar limits because material reduction only succeeds while pack integrity, seal strength, opening performance, and product protection remain intact. A small loss of barrier or puncture resistance can create higher costs through spoilage, complaints, line waste, and shortened shelf life, particularly in coffee, snacks, cheese, and frozen foods.
Aluminium foil remains important where strong light, oxygen, and moisture barriers are required, including dairy lids, confectionery wraps, retort structures, and specialist laminates. Higher prices may accelerate the use of coatings or simplified structures, although alternative materials still need shelf-life and machine trials before a high-volume conversion.
The BOPP rise will be closely watched by snack and bakery producers because the film is widely used for clarity, stiffness, print quality, moisture protection, and high-speed forming. A large increase in the base substrate can affect millions of packs even where the packaging cost attached to each individual unit remains small.
Converter finances may become another pressure point. Packaging suppliers commonly purchase and hold raw materials before finished reels or pouches are delivered, so rapid inflation increases working-capital requirements and can compress margins. Shorter quotation validity and more frequent price reviews are likely where suppliers cannot absorb that movement.
Better specification control can give manufacturers more room to respond. Approved alternatives, reel usage, line waste, seal settings, pack performance, and shelf-life data need to be visible before procurement changes material sources. Dual sourcing only improves resilience when films from different suppliers run consistently and protect the product to the same standard.
Packaging and production teams will also need to coordinate more closely because a procurement saving can disappear through lower line efficiency. Changes in friction, curl, thickness, static, or sealing range can increase stoppages and rejects even when the film meets its written specification.
Flexible Packaging Europe expects some stabilisation if geopolitical conditions ease and feedstock costs fall, yet private consumption and food inflation remain concerns for the second half of the year. Availability has held so far; the harder task is absorbing broad material increases while preserving product protection and continuing the redesign work required by European packaging law.
