Imported film can genuinely be cheaper per kilo. The argument for extruding here is not that it is not — it is that the per-kilo figure is only part of what you pay.
01 — The costs that do not appear on the quote
Container minimums mean buying more than you need and financing the difference. Long lead times mean carrying safety stock against a forecast that is mostly guesswork. Both of those are working capital sitting still, and neither shows up next to the unit price.
Then there is the cost of being wrong. A specification change that takes one production window here can take a full shipping cycle there, and in the meantime you either run the old material or stop.
Nobody budgets for the fortnight they spend waiting to find out whose fault it was.
02 — Where it bites
Container minimums and safety stock, financed by you.
A spec change measured in shipping cycles, not weeks.
A batch query answered by paperwork from another continent.
03 — The commercial case for making here
We extrude and convert in Britain because it is a better commercial position, and because it keeps skilled jobs and supplier spend in the UK economy. Both of those things are true at once and we are not embarrassed about either.
What it buys a customer is short runs without container minimums, a blend or gauge change that is a line trial rather than an import order, and a factory in Lincolnshire they are welcome to walk around before committing to anything.