BOPP film production technology was pioneered by the Italian company Montecatini in 1958, with industrial-scale production achieved in 1962; China began exploring the production processes and equipment for biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film in the early 1960s and commenced formal production in 1975.
The development of agricultural plastic films in China began in the mid-to-late 1950s, initially relying entirely on PVC films; with the domestic production of polyethylene resin, the 1970s marked the beginning of the shift from PVC to LDPE for agricultural films. PE mulch film was introduced to China in 1979, and subsequently, the functionality of agricultural films continued to evolve, leading to the emergence of varieties such as wide-format, anti-drip, and aging-resistant PVC and LDPE films, as well as multifunctional PE films and EVA composite films.
China's flexible packaging industry emerged in the late 1970s, and plastic film has since become the largest component of packaging materials used in the country.