The story behind this week's ranking is growth and consolidation.
This year's film and sheet ranking of 163 North American companies shows a 3 percent gain, adding $2 billion over last year's total. Pulling together $42.9 billion in related sales, a huge figure.
Our ranking casts a wide net [no pun intended], including extrusion and converting. These commodity products benefit from full supply chain integration. It's our only processor ranking that sees such a large span from raw material companies to finished goods makers. For this reason, the 1.7 percent gain in average sales per company is tightly earned.
Where do you find $2 billion? Higher selling prices are the biggest reason cited for the largest gains with raw material cost pass through a close second. Polyethylene and polypropylene prices fell in fiscal 2022, but most other materials averaged double-digit percentage increases.
These are the numbers of note:
• 35 firms are publicly held.
• 64 companies show gains while only 19 show declines.
• 163 firms are ranked, but 176 appear in the directory.
Every year this ranking is full of footnotes about acquisitions and this update is no exception. That 176-company count represents a 20 percent consolidation from a high of 218 companies in 2002.
Speaking of consolidations: Central States Products, Oscoda, Saudi Basic Industries, Spectrum Plastics Group, Synthomer , Standard Multiwall Bag and Terphane have all made acquisition news recently, read about them online in our mergers and acquisitions page. The latest big news is that Berry Global may sell its health, hygiene business.
Changes in markets and demand bring changes in focus, initiatives redirecting focus and rebranding, see our packaging coverage online.
