Plastic Prices Surge, Bottled Water Industry Under Pressure
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — The Indonesian Bottled Water Association (Amdatara) has highlighted the growing pressures on the bottled water industry (AMDK) amid global volatility, particularly the surge in packaging raw material prices.
Amdatara General Chairman Karyanto Wibowo stated that the price increase primarily affects petroleum-based plastics, the main component in AMDK product packaging.
“We express serious concern over the increasing pressures on the bottled water industry (AMDK) due to the surge in packaging raw material prices, especially petroleum-based plastics,” Karyanto said in a written statement on Monday (6/4/2026).
Crude oil prices have jumped from around $67 per barrel to $98 per barrel in mid-March 2026.
Meanwhile, benchmark natural gas prices in Asia and Europe have also risen by more than 60% over the same period.
“Since more than 99% of global plastic is produced from fossil fuels (crude oil and natural gas), this energy price increase directly impacts plastic production costs and raw materials,” he said.
As a result, packaging prices could potentially rise by around 25 to 50%, depending on the material type, production volume, and scale of each company.
This situation is seen as risking an increase in AMDK product selling prices in the market, particularly for small and medium-scale producers with limited stock and liquidity.
“This not only threatens the survival of thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs but also has the potential to disrupt public access to safe drinking water, which has been an important contribution of the AMDK industry to public health,” Karyanto emphasised.
He stressed that this price surge can no longer be categorised as normal fluctuations but as structural pressures affecting the industry’s resilience.
“This is a structural pressure that directly hits the industry’s resilience, especially as business players continue to strive to maintain affordable product prices for the public,” he said.
As one of the important pillars of the national manufacturing sector, the AMDK industry currently has 707 factories with an installed production capacity of 47 billion litres per year.