PP vs PET for Beverage Cups: Material Selection Guide

PET is the industry standard for transparent beverage cups, with light transmittance exceeding 90% that rivals glass clarity. This crystal-clear appearance makes PET ideal for milk tea, juice, smoothie, and iced coffee cups where consumers expect to see the beverage inside. PET maintains its clarity across wall thicknesses from 0.3mm to 1.0mm without the milky haze that affects PP. Standard PP (homopolymer) has a naturally translucent appearance due to its semi-crystalline structure. Clarified PP grades using nucleating agents like Millad NX 8000 can achieve haze values below 15%, approaching PET-like clarity but still falling short for premium applications. Random copolymer PP offers better transparency than homopolymer. For markets where beverage visibility is a primary purchasing driver, PET remains the preferred choice. However, many dairy and hot-fill applications where opacity is acceptable or desired favor PP. For manufacturers, the material choice should align with the primary beverage type—clarity-critical cold drinks favor PET, while versatile hot-and-cold menus favor PP's broader temperature range.

PP thin-wall cup production on HWAMDA SPV5 machines achieves cycle times of 5-7 seconds for standard beverage cups using 8-12 cavity molds on 450T machines. PP's well-established processing parameters and wide processing window make it forgiving for operators. Injection speeds of 200-400 mm/s at melt temperatures of 230-260°C deliver consistent fill patterns. PET injection molding for thin-wall cups requires careful moisture control—PET resin must be dried to below 50 ppm moisture to prevent hydrolysis and maintain clarity. Processing temperatures of 270-290°C are higher than PP, and PET's narrower processing window demands tighter parameter control. Cycle times for PET cups are generally comparable to PP at 5-8 seconds but require additional drying equipment and more experienced operators. PET's higher processing temperature also increases energy consumption by approximately 10-15% compared to PP cup production. HWAMDA recommends dedicating separate SPV5 machines to each material rather than switching, as parameter differences and drying requirements make frequent changeover impractical.

PP resin for beverage cups costs approximately $1,100-1,400/ton, with material cost per cup (500ml, 0.5mm wall) ranging from $0.015-0.022. PP molds are well-proven and competitively priced, with 8-cavity PP cup molds starting from $35,000-50,000 from quality Chinese suppliers. Total production cost per PP cup including material, machine depreciation, energy, and labor runs $0.025-0.040. PET resin typically costs $1,000-1,300/ton, similar to PP on a weight basis. However, PET's higher density (1.38 g/cm³ vs PP's 0.90 g/cm³) means significantly more material by weight for the same cup volume, increasing per-unit material cost by 30-40%. PET cups also require drying equipment ($15,000-30,000 additional investment) and consume more energy. Total cost per PET cup typically runs $0.030-0.050, making PP 15-25% cheaper overall for equivalent cup sizes. When comparing total costs, factor in the capital cost of auxiliary drying equipment required exclusively for PET, adding ongoing maintenance and energy costs not applicable to PP. For production planning purposes, the higher PET density also means heavier containers that require stronger packaging and higher freight costs per unit shipped.

Choose PP when producing hot-fill beverage cups, dairy cups, microwave-safe containers, or when serving markets with high ambient temperatures. PP is the right material when cost optimization is the priority, when IML decoration is planned (PP is the standard substrate for IML), and when sustainability claims matter to your customers. HWAMDA provides complete PP cup production lines with SPV5 450T machines, 8-12 cavity molds, and optional SWITEK IML automation. Choose PET when crystal clarity is non-negotiable—for cold milk tea cups, juice cups, and premium iced coffee cups where beverage visibility drives consumer purchase decisions. PET is preferred in markets where transparent packaging is the established standard and consumers associate clarity with quality. However, new factories should consider that PP with nucleating agents is closing the clarity gap, and the global trend favors PP for recyclability. HWAMDA machines handle both PP and PET processing with adjustable parameters. HWAMDA provides material-specific machine configurations and processing support for both PP and PET, helping customers optimize production for their chosen material.