Farmers face a jump in silage wrap prices this spring with manufacturers claiming there are reduced supplies of resin raw material across Europe. What is available is coming at higher cost.

The price of polyethylene resin has increased by €185/t, according to Plastics News in Europe.

The concern for Irish farmers is how much extra this is going to cost per roll. The indications are that price will be €8-10 higher per unit than last year. Some of last year’s stock is still in merchants’ yards at the old price but it will sell out quickly.

The strength of sterling will make buying film in Northern Ireland less attractive. It could even lead to tighter supplies if Northern Irish farmers look to buy here to take advantage of currency changes. A plastic recycling levy is on the way for Northern Ireland farmers in the near future, similar to the €2.35 plus VAT per roll charged on farmers in the Republic.

It is estimated that the Irish market is for 20,000t, or 800,000 rolls of silage wrap. It is likely that more wrap will be needed this year, with many pits still full from last year’s bumper grass harvest. Ken Higgins, sales and marketing manager for Silawrap, based in Gorey, has claimed that his firm will have 1,000t less resin for silage film.

As a result, output at the factory will be down by approximately 40,000 rolls of silage wrap. This is equivalent to about 1.2m silage bales where four layers of film are applied per bale.

News of the hike in prices has been circulating in the plastics trade for a number of weeks. Now, some pre-season deals for silage film are being renegotiated due to the supply constraints and price increases.

Resin prices across Europe have gone from an all-time low to the highest they have been for 15 years. Resin manufactures are reported to have sold their stocks for export out of the EU, benefiting from euro weakness. Imported resin will now be costly. This may force some silage manufacturing lines to close, trade sources say.

IFA inputs chairman James McCarty said: “It is typical at this time of year to hear this from the trade. With oil prices falling this year, how can the price of silage wrap be increasing, when a polymer product is made from oil?”

The advice from McCarthy is to “shop around, and don’t believe all the price rumours” that are being told.