What the material in your bag actually costs

Put your bag's dimensions, fabric weight and order quantity in, and this returns the cost of the polypropylene and the printing plates — per bag and for the whole order. It is for basic information only: a rough idea of the floor, not a quote. Many other factors affect the real price, and the ones this leaves out are listed below.

material floor (per bag) = area (m²) × GSM ÷ 1,000 × resin price × (1 + yield loss)
plates (per bag) = colours × cost per cylinder ÷ order quantity
order total = (material floor + plates) × order quantity

Worked example, at May 2026 resin. A 55 × 95 cm open-mouth sack at 60 g/m², 20,000 pcs, six-colour print: 1.10 m² of fabric is 66 g of PP; at $1.456/kg plus 4% scrap that is $0.100 of resin a bag. Plates are ¥4,200 over 20,000 pcs, about $0.031. Material floor ≈ $0.131 a bag, or $2,619 for the order.

What this number does not include

Weaving, sewing, lamination, liner, handles, labels, thread, cartons, freight, duty and margin all sit on top of the floor. We do not estimate them here, because we do not publish a conversion cost we cannot evidence — ask us and we will quote the real figure against your specification.

Colour is not free either. A solid black or a strong pigment needs masterbatch priced above base resin, so a coloured bag sits above the floor this calculates for a natural one. Ask what the colour adds before you compare two quotes on fabric weight alone.

Several of them move the price more than the fabric does. On a bag with webbing handles the handles can be most of the material cost again, and on a long shipment carton fill and freight can exceed the margin on the bags themselves. A floor is a starting point for a conversation, not a substitute for one.

Why a floor, and not an estimate

Woven bags commonly carry CaCO₃ filler masterbatch, which is cheaper than resin and pulls true material cost below the pure-resin figure — while reducing tensile and tear strength. That is why this calculator does not model it: a quote that lands materially under this floor is usually filler, and filler is what fails a load test. Knowing the floor is how you tell a keen price from a bag that will not survive the journey.

The resin default is the May 2026 China reference from our own research, and it is shown with its date because it will go stale — resin is volatile, and the level matters less than the movement. Overwrite it with the price you are quoted on the day.

Next: weigh a sample and check the GSM you were actually sold, or read what gsm a job actually needs.