Soaring polymer prices and higher costs for energy and transportation, are placing an increasing burden on the packaging sector, industry associations in France and Germany say. Prices currently being asked by polymer suppliers are “unreasonable,” says Alix Hubin, president of the French packaging industry association Chambre Syndicale des Emballages en Matiere Plastique (CSEMP, Paris; www.packplast.org).

Ulf Kelterborn, managing director of the German packaging industry association IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (Bad Homburg; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de), says that raw materials now account for 70% of overall production costs.