More food products are required to be produced on arable land (which keeps on receding more than the population growth), in order to facilitate feeding of an ever increasing global population of six billion people; a number that keeps on increasing by almost at least one% every year.

Plasticulture commonly known for the use of plastics for agriculture plays an important role in fulfilling this need. Plastic films, mainly of Polyethylene (PE) have been used to conserve water and prevent weeds when used as mulch film or provide a controlled atmosphere when used in green houses or tunnels, have been in existence over the last 50 years. In fact, it is estimated that almost 2.1 million tons of PE films are used in agriculture. This works out to be almost four % of the total PE (51 million tons) consumption. China, the land of more than 21% of the World population alone consumes almost about 800KT or almost 40% of the total PE Ag films (PE films used in agriculture). Europe with almost Five % of the population consumes more than 500KT or almost 25% of the PE Ag films. Both these cases amply demonstrate the importance of PE Ag films in feeding the people or producing crops in inclement weather.

PE Ag films are predominantly used in two major applications. The green houses along with tunnels have more than 50% share of the total usage. Mulch films have almost 25% share of the market. Nursery bags, Fumigation covers, Silage and a host of other applications can account of the remaining 25%. PE Ag films have been used very widely in Northern China to grow crops in dry and cold weather.

LDPE on account of its easy processabilty in wide width films has a major share of the PE Ag films market. EVA on account of its excellent weatherability is also used in this application. LLDPE usage has been increasing to provide better strength at lower thickness. It is expected that LLDPE's share of PE Ag films will increase because of the increasing availability of Metallocene LLDPE at a relatively modest price premium compared to LDPE. The present distribution pattern in Europe consists 70% of LDPE, 20% of EVA and almost 10% of LLDPE. LLDPE has a much higher share in China. It cannot be ruled out that LLDPE including MLLDPE could account for at least 30-40% of PE Ag films by the end of this decade.

The additives are essential to meet the diverse requirements of PE Ag films that include the long life of the films, to achieve the desired cost effectiveness, in the environment of various chemical that are used in pesticides etc. Additives majors like Ciba continuously innovate to develop better additives, while leading Masterbatch producers like Ampacet, Constab, Schulman have been providing enhanced Additive Masterbatch systems to the film producers for achieving better performance at optimum cost.

The use of PE Ag films in India is quite insignificant compared to China. In fact the total PE film consumption in India, estimated at about 600KT, is lower than PE Ag film consumption of China. While the cost of PE Ag films, for major crops like cereals etc., could be limiting its wide usage, it is quite surprising that PE Ag film is not used for fruit cultivation despite the fact that India, with its annual production of 34 million tonnes is the third largest fruit producer in the World. India has started using PE Ag film for floriculture in the last few years. It is estimated that the use of virgin PE material for PE Ag film in India could hardly account for less than 10KT.