High-performance plastic films have become an important niche market in that they are specialty products at premium prices, says a new study by Business Communications Co.

Although volumes of high-performance films are relatively low compared to commodity films, the value of this market is disproportionately high, especially with most prices in excess of $2/lb and many others over $5/lb, says the Norwalk, CT-based market researcher.

The North American market for high-performance films, estimated at 1.3 billion lbs, was valued at $3.6 billion in 2003, BCC says. Based on volume, polyesters, nylons, and polyolefin-based high-performance films account for almost 95 percent of the total market. The high-performance film market is growing at an annual rate of 3.2 percent through 2008.

Packaging (mostly foods), photographic/reprographic, and magnetic media make up about 62 percent of the total high-performance film market by volume. However, the latter two applications show flat growth, which lowers the overall growth rate.