CEH Report

Table of Contents

Abstract

Polyester film as discussed in this report refers to a high-performance biaxially oriented (BOPET) film made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin. Packaging is the end-use market with the highest demand for BOPET film (41%), followed by industrial (32%) and electrical/electronic (19%). These three end-use markets have grown rapidly during the last few years and now account for 92% of total demand.

In the packaging sector the increasing emphasis on solid waste reduction and the consequent trend away from rigid packaging and toward flexible packaging have been an important driver of this growth. Stand-up and retort pouches, peelable lids and metallized film used for snack food packaging are among the most successful applications in this area.

The electrical/electronic end-use market includes traditional applications such as photoresists, motor and generator insulation, wire and cable wrap, membrane switches, capacitors and flexible printed circuits, as well as relatively new and emerging applications such as flat panel displays (FPDs) and solar cells. These latter two applications have driven the growth in the electronic sector during the last three to four years. In flat panel displays, polyester film can be used for parts (as diffusion, antireflection, prism and white film) or in production processes as a release and protection film. Global consumption for this application has grown very rapidly in recent years (on average 13–15% annually). Japan, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and China together account for almost the totality of this consumption, since world production of displays is concentrated in these countries. Growth in the FPD sector seems to have slowed during 2008, mainly as a consequence of the global economic recession. For the 2008–2013 period, consumption of polyester film in this sector is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 6–7%.

The following pie chart shows world consumption of polyester film:

Polyester film is used in the construction of back sheets for solar cells. Typical back sheets are trilaminate constructions of the type: PVF (Tedlar®) film/polyester film/PVF (Tedlar®) film. However, there is a trend toward the elimination of the expensive PVF film layer and an increase in the thickness of the inner polyester layer. Solar cells have been rapidly gaining in popularity over the past two to three years. Europe is the largest market for solar cells worldwide. Germany has the highest growth, since its government subsidizes the installation of solar cells. Spain, Italy, France and Greece have passed similar laws, which will probably lead to high growth rates in the solar cells market over the coming years. In the United States, future demand is expected to be driven by accelerated investment in alternative energy. Consumption in Japan, and presumably in the rest of Asia, is still very small. At the current cost, solar batteries are not economically feasible without a large subsidy from government. As a consequence, future demand in these regions will depend on the future oil price as well as on government policies. World consumption of polyester film for solar cell applications is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 10–15% during 2008–2013.