Bengaluru, March 19 -- A sharp rise in crude oil-linked raw material prices is unsettling India's plastic packaging industry, but a bigger disruption is being caused by companies securing and stockpiling their supplies, tightening availability and pushing up prices.

This is directly impacting packaged food and beverage companies that are preparing for peak summer demand. Most plastics are derived from crude oil and natural gas liquids that are refined to make the raw material for plastic.

Prices of key inputs such as PET resin (used for plastic bottles) and polyolefins (used for bottle caps, labels and pouches) have surged by 40% to 80% in weeks, driven by the West Asia conflict that started on 28 February and subsequent global crude oi...