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International tin capsule prices soar

SILICONE ALTERNATIVE STOPPER COMING, WINERIES ADJUSTING STATEGIES

NORTH COAST – The cost of tin used to make the foil capsules that give wine bottles a look and feel of luxury has soared by four and a half times in the past five years, causing some wineries to adjust their packaging strategy and suppliers to prepare for any switch to alternatives.

The commodity price of raw tin on the London Metal Exchange was $20,400 at press time, compared with $16,500 at the beginning of this year, $6,600 two years before that and $3,600 five years ago, according to data from the exchange.

China’s voracious industrial appetite for all metals, including tin used in electronics, has fueled the increases, according to Jeremy Bell, general manager of Rivercap USA, the importer for the Spanish all-tin-capsule pioneer.

Tin price inflation and soaring energy costs for production and transportation plus a weakening dollar have led to the near doubling of the per-unit price of European-made tin capsules in the past year to 17 cents, according to Fredrick Catteau, general manager of American Canyon-based Alcan Packaging Closures of California.

That’s why Alcan has ramped up Napa Valley production of polylaminate capsules, which have a sandwich of plastic film and aluminum foil to approximate the smooth look and tearing sensation of tin. It’s also partly why Alcan is setting up screw cap manufacturing there, as Alcan’s long-skirted line of Stelvin caps eliminates the need for a capsule to cover the top of the bottle.

Tom O’Brien, purchasing director for Santa Rosa-based Jackson Family Wines, said the

increase in the price of tin hasn’t pushed the company switch toward polylam capsules, of which 60 million were bought in 2007. Improvements in polylam materials and application machinery have ironed out past wrinkles with the capsules.

“If it’s in polylam, it will remain in polylam, and what’s in tin will remain in tin,” he said, noting the use of polylam capsules for some brands retailing for more than $20 a bottle, such as Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve.

Sonoma-based Don Sebastiani & Sons International Negotiant has delved into alternative closures such as Zork, screw caps and Alcoa’s glass VinoSeal, but consumer preference for foil wrapped bottles has led the company to keep polylam bottles on 85 percent of the 2 million cases of wine produced, according to winemaker Richard Bruno.

Among new cork alternatives is the Sil-Cork 90 percent silicone, 10 percent aggregate-cork stopper by Texas-based Jamak Fabrication Inc., a major industrial silicone manufacturer. Napa’s Global Package LLC will be the West Coast distributor.

Claimed benefits are inert reactivity with wine, no transmission of the TCA chemical compound and better pliability than plastic stoppers for pushing it back into the bottle.

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