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This report discusses the two major categories of specialty films—engineering
films (polyester, nylon and polycarbonate) and high performance films (fluoropolymer,
polyimide, polyethylene naphthalate, cylco-olefin copolymers and developmental).
In 2005, consumption of specialty films in the United States, Western Europe
and Japan totaled over one million metric tons, representing sales of about
$5.8 billion. The following pie chart shows consumption of specialty films
in the United States, Western Europe and Japan:
Major manufacturers (fabricators) are usually back-integrated operations that
use captively produced resins to make specialty films. The major worldwide
companies fabricate more than 80% (by weight and value) of the total volume
of specialty films in the three world regions. Major suppliers of specialty
films, such as DuPont Teijin and Toray, are multinational companies that have
expanded their film distribution (and in some cases fabrication) beyond regional
boundaries.
The polyester film business is truly global in nature, and its globalization
is increasing through the formation of international joint ventures between
some of the largest regional suppliers. In recent years, however, the attractiveness
of the polyester film business has diminished because of slow growth prospects
in major markets and weak profitability resulting from worldwide overcapacity
and the entrance of new competitors in developing countries.
Dominated by regional players, the nylon film business is less global than
most of the other classes of specialty films. Competition from polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) in the flexible packaging markets for unoriented and monoaxially
oriented nylon film has escalated because of declining raw material prices
and an oversupplied global market for PET.
The polycarbonate film business is dominated by GE Plastics. GE controls approximately
85% of the U.S. market, and the company is establishing and/or expanding its
fabrication facilities in other regions as well.
Five film types account for about 95% of the worldwide demand for fluoropolymer
film. As the world’s leading fabricator of fluoropolymer films, DuPont
makes four of the five. The company supplies PFA, ETFE, PVF and FEP films to
markets in the United States, Western Europe and Japan.
The polyimide (PI) film business is dominated by DuPont/DuPont-Toray, which
accounts for 75% of global PI capacity. Because of several key patents, competition
in polyimide films was essentially nonexistent from the 1960s to the early
1980s. Since that time, however, the expiration of some patents has allowed
several Japanese companies to enter the market.
A number of companies, the most successful of which are in Japan, have developed
new types of films from various high performance resins during the past decade.
Consumed in very small volumes, most of these films are produced in small volumes.
Suppliers are seeking niche markets that can benefit from a combination of
the films’ price and performance characteristics, which generally lie
between those of polyester and polyimide films.
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