BPF Survey Highlights Significant Supply Challenges Facing UK Plastics Industry
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The consequences of the US-Iran war have been deeply felt by the UK plastics industry. In particular, there are widespread raw material shortages accompanied by steep cost increases, a situation unprecedented in the working lives of senior colleagues in the industry.
A survey carried out by the British Plastics Federation during March 25th-27th 2026, amongst its member firms drew 104 responses:
Some 58% of companies reported either a ‘severe’ or ‘significant’ impact on their operations and an overwhelming 98% of companies have experienced increases in raw material or operational costs.
The outlook is set to worsen with 68% of respondents expecting the situation to deteriorate over the next three months.
Over 63% of businesses have seen orders delayed or cancelled.
The impact is not confined to the availability of virgin polymers but also includes additives, masterbatch, components and machinery and equipment. It has also prompted an increase in freight charges. Sourcing from the Far East has become extremely difficult.
The plastics industry occupies a strategic position in the UK economy. As the third largest manufacturing sector, it employs 145,000 people, has a turnover of £30.7 bn and is one of the UK’s top ten exporting sectors.
Disruption is likely to be experienced in critical markets – the supply of fresh food and water, defence, healthcare, mobility, and the digital and energy infrastructures.
BPF have alerted the UK government to this perilous situation, and are urging it to find means to:
- Relieve the energy costs sustained by companies in the UK plastics industry.
- Review impending regulations with financial implications.
- Ringfence and reinvest the Plastics Packaging Tax funds in the UK Recycling infrastructure.
- Secure supply routes via diplomatic intervention.
Philip Law, BPF’s Director-General, said: “For many companies, the threat posed by the US-Iran war is existential. To help ensure the survival of our industry and to protect jobs costs will have to be passed on down the supply chain. We look to all companies to act responsibly.
The UK has had a growing dependence on the Middle East as a source of feedstock and polymers. The war has had an exaggerated impact on the UK’s plastics industry as the UK imports more than half of its plastics raw materials. The UK government should be acutely aware of this vulnerability in the UK’s security and act to protect an industry so central to our national interests.”
