Bahar Baskı San. ve Tic. A.Ş.
The Turkish flexible packaging material sector
Had been producing OPP film structures for food packaging, which had the largest share in consumption, until the early 1990s. After all, the concentration in the fast moving consumer goods was on the foodstuffs rather than the cleaning or cosmetic materials. The fundamental feature of foodstuffs, on the other hand, is very high market circulation, i.e. they can be sold out rapidly without waiting on the shelves for long time. Under these circumstances, it is unnecessary for the flexible packaging materials used to wrap up the foodstuffs to have very high barrier feature. When the foodstuffs like biscuits, candies, legumes, macaroni, dried nuts, etc. are packaged in a material with medium barrier feature, like OPP film, they could remain fresh sufficiently when bought by the end user.
However, the increasing number of the new products launched in our market by the multinational firms operating in the fast moving consumer goods sector as well as the increased volume of marketing and promotion activities for their previously-launched products have led to an increase, in return, in the need for packaging materials that are more qualified and have higher barrier feature compared to OPP film structures.
The PET film, with much lower oxygen and water vapor permeability value, in other words, much higher barrier feature, compared to OPP film, with high intensity and mechanical strength, thus equally durable even when it is used as thick as half of the 20 or 25 micron OPP films used widely, have begun to replace rapidly the OPP film that was not sufficient any more from numerous perspectives. The 1990s were the years when the PET film was being developed newly not only in our own country but the entire World, and thus not used frequently. Nevertheless, as an ideal film for packaging the foodstuffs like powdered milk, coffee, cream, dry yeast, etc., which have to preserve the same aroma and taste as of the production stage, which are caking and staling rapidly, and which are expensive, the PET film was attention-grabbing for the food producers.
On the other hand, because the material users were approaching it cautiously as it was a new kind of plastic film, they were testing it through trial usages in the form of small batches instead of shifting their whole consumption to PET film structures. Nevertheless, the Turkish flexible packaging materials sector that has been producing only the OPP film structure as plastic films for decades did not have the know-how required to produce, especially print and laminate, the PET film structures that were totally new for them. Since they did not have the required know-how and it requires trial productions in the form of small batches, the flexible packaging material producer factories that are accustomed to produce the conventional OPP film food packages in very high tonnages and working with infrastructures, materials, working conditions, and personnel that are suitable for OPP film printing & lamination were refraining from showing the care, attention and affection required by the PET film structures. Therefore, the existing producers were not taking kindly to receive the orders for PET film structures, and consequently, unable to meet the quality expectations of the firms using the acquired packaging materials in their own productions. However, the need for multilayered laminated structures with PET film ingredient has climaxed as of the mid-1990s.